The Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) has joined forces with Dell Technologies to develop a new AI platform that will advance research in cybersecurity, sustainability, healthcare and robotics.
The new AI platform, powered by Dell PowerEdge XE9680 servers, will help researchers gain real-time insights into large datasets and develop advanced AI models that power their research.
The research team at the Software Research Institute (SRI) at TUS are focused on driving innovation in the fields of cybersecurity, cloud-edge computing, robotic control, smart agriculture and healthcare.
Under the COMAND Technology Gateway programme, which is funded by Enterprise Ireland, and based at TUS’s SRI, the Dell-powered AI platform will also be used to develop Large Language Model (LLM) based chatbots to support programs around elderly care, automation of automotive assembly lines and robotics using imitation learning.
The new AI platform will be leveraged to support several research projects led by Horizon Europe, the European Union’s key funding program for research and innovation.
Projects include ResilMesh, a €7 million euro EU funded project that aims to make digital infrastructures more secure and resilient against cyber-attacks, and the Soilcrates project, which is dedicated to restoring and preserving soil health by enhancing soil literacy, monitoring soil structure, promoting biodiversity, and optimising crop-growing conditions.
Dr Yuansong Qiao, Senior Research Fellow, Software Research Institute at TUS explains: “Harnessing the power of AI has become increasingly important to advancing research in critical areas such as cybersecurity and robotics, which require analysis of increasingly large data sets. That’s why it’s crucial that TUS has the right infrastructure to manage the intensive workloads of advanced AI-powered research. Our collaboration with Dell Technologies delivers these capabilities and ensures that our researchers can now build highly complex AI models to examine and test more effective defence systems in cybersecurity and other domains.”
Jason Ward, EMEA North Vice-President and Managing Director of Dell Technologies Irelandremarked: “As a global leader in computers, Dell Technologies is at the forefront of enterprise AI adoption, providing the cutting-edge technology and expertise that organisations in Ireland and worldwide need to adopt, scale and thrive with AI. This work represents a shining example of Dell’s dedication to expanding Europe’s AI ecosystem, through our AI solutions and expertise making a real difference in critical industries like healthcare and sustainability. This high-performance AI infrastructure will accelerate groundbreaking research and empower innovation that shapes the future.”
Dell PowerEdge XE9680 servers provide SRI with advanced AI compute capabilities to manage data-intensive research workloads. Studies show that AI capabilities can enhance research productivity by up to 50% by automating repetitive tasks and accelerating data analysis. The Dell PowerEdge XE9680 is a high-performance server designed to deliver exceptional performance for AI and high-performance computing. Dell PowerEdge servers are designed with flexibility and scaling in mind for easy workload consolidation.
PowerEdge servers also deliver robust security with its Cyber Resilient Architecture, a multi-layered approach designed to safeguard systems, detect threats and ensure comprehensive data protection at every level. This provides researchers with an IT environment that can simulate complex attacks, identify weaknesses in IT systems more efficiently and provide more accurate analysis on emerging cyber threats for organisations.
As part of its long-standing relationship with TUS, Dell has provided a range of cloud computing, data centre and infrastructure solutions to the university, as well as laptops and endpoint devices.