Satavia to utilise Verne Global’s hpcDIRECT platform

Satavia, based in Cambridge in the UK, will use Verne Global’s hpcDIRECT platform to expand its compute-intensive research into environmental factors, such as ice crystals at high altitude, which is already helping to make the aviation industry smarter, cleaner and safer. Satavia intends to map out the prevalence of high altitude ice clouds which pose a hazard to aircraft and can cause engines to flame out during flight. The extension of Satavia’s cloud-based analytics capabilities will generate high spatiotemporal global-scale multi-year data sets that are computationally intensive, highlighting the need for an efficient compute solution optimised for HPC applications. 

In addition to providing vital data intelligence on these factors, Satavia will use the Verne Global hpcDIRECT platform to generate exposure data sets for individual aircraft, integrating machine learning and aircraft data connectivity to offer automated risk-based decision-making capability. Aviation and aerospace organisations across the globe will rely on this mission-critical information to develop and implement innovative solutions to boost efficiency, improve safety, as well as to reduce costs and aircraft emissions.

hpcDIRECT provides a TrueHPC platform supported by HPC specialists in a highly optimised environment. With this deployment, Satavia will gain flexible and scalable access to 10,000 bare metal HPC cores utilising Dell EMC and Intel technology, with specialist DevOps support for the lifetime of the project from Verne Global’s experienced hpcDIRECT technical team. Satavia will be able to generate data sets effectively and efficiently for onward research, without the need to invest in a large-scale infrastructure and the associated support team.

“Verne Global’s purpose-built HPC platform provides us with the specialist compute power we need to extend our vital research into the environmental factors causing unscheduled and costly disruption to the aviation industry,” said Adam Durant, CEO, Satavia. “Verne Global was the obvious choice for us. Not only will it allow us to create greater volumes of environmental data at scale – and therefore provide more valuable intelligence to the aviation industry – it offers us a low carbon source of HPC powered by geothermal energy, which helps to reduce our impact on the environment.”

“We are delighted that Satavia has selected our hpcDIRECT platform to undertake truly pioneering research that will help the aviation industry make intelligence-based decisions about how to maintain, manage and increase the performance of their fleets,” said Tate Cantrell, Chief Technology Officer at Verne Global. “With hpcDIRECT, Satavia can run industrial scale HPC applications with none of the costs or complexities associated with building and running a platform in-house.”