The Rensselaer Institute for Data Exploration and Applications (IDEA) provides a set of resources for campus users needing dedicated computation for applications ranging from data analytics to deep learning systems. Key facilities include:
- A cluster of five Intel Xeon machines with various configurations ranging from 24-40 cores, 256-512GB RAM, and up to four GPUs per machine (Tesla K40m or Titan RTX). These systems are designed for dedicated data mining, machine learning, and neural computing-intensive jobs using popular toolkits.
- Researchers and students within IDEA have ready access to leading data analytics platforms including RStudio Studio, Jupyter, and MATLAB, all enhanced with parallel computing capability; machine learning technologies including TensorFlow and PyTorch; and scalable database technologies including ElasticSearch. Data analytics applications are regularly deployed to campus users and others via the Web using the R Shiny platform.
- Researchers within IDEA can scale up their code developed on the Cluster and, with code compatibility, run them on the AiMOS supercomputing system which has over 130,000 cores and 1500 high-end GPUs. The machine is rated 24 th in the world, and currently has a rate over 8 petaflops. Details on the AiMOS supercomputer can be found at https://www.top500.org/system/179781.
- A visualization laboratory with an RPI Campfire visualization device – a patent pending visualization system for multiscale, collaborative data analytics couple with several large screen systems to provide an immersive capability.
Use of these facilities are available to RPI researchers at no charge for projects that are externally funded.
See also Accessing the IDEA Cluster