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Newcastle cloud computing centre wins funding

A £2m cloud computing centre is being developed by Newcastle University.

The centre, jointly funded by the University and Government money, aims to boost the region’s skills and innovation by bringing together business, education and public sector bodies.

Project leader, Barry Hodgson, said: “The cloud centre offers us a unique opportunity to gather and analyse huge amounts of data much more quickly and present them in a way that is meaningful to the customer. “For example, a trial is already underway to issue patients with wrist sensors which log their daily activity and sleep patterns. “In the past, doctors have relied on patients filling in their own diaries which is time consuming and often inaccurate.

“But using the cloud centre, the data collected by the sensors over a period of weeks can now be downloaded, analysed and presented to the Consultant and their patient in a meaningful format within minutes while the patient is sat in the waiting room.

“The centre will also act as a test-bed for us to develop new applications and services by extracting more value from massive data sets, it provides training opportunities to fill the skills gap we currently have in this highly-specialised but rapidly growing area and in turn builds on our world-leading reputation in cloud computing and big data.”

The centre will initially operate from the university’s Claremont Tower, before moving with the School of Computing Science to the old brewery site in Newcastle city centre.

The new centre and the move to the heart of the city is part of the Science Central partnership between the university and Newcastle City Council, which will combine hi-tech businesses and top level research.

It aims to attract investors and developers to regenerate the city centre and has a pot of £30m in investments and outline planning consent in place.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Karen Dent .