🏅 South Africa’s HPC Trailblazers Secure Silver at ISC25

CSIR, 2025. CHPC Student Cluster Competition team secures 2nd place in international supercomputing contest [Photograph]. Available at: https://www.csir.co.za/chpc-student-cluster-competition-team-secures-2nd-place-international-supercomputing-contest [Accessed 14 Jun 2025].

At Eclipse Holdings, we extend our heartfelt congratulations to the CHPC Student Cluster Competition team, who achieved an outstanding second-place finish at the globally renowned ISC High Performance 2025 Student Cluster Competition, held from 10–12 June in Hamburg, Germany.

This achievement affirms the exceptional calibre of South African talent in the field of high-performance computing (HPC) and underscores the ongoing impact of strategic investment in technical training, innovation, and research infrastructure.

🌐 About the ISC Student Cluster Competition

The ISC Student Cluster Competition is a flagship international event that brings together top student teams from around the world. Participants are tasked with designing and configuring a small-scale, energy-efficient HPC cluster onsite, and running a suite of complex, real-world scientific and industrial workloads within strict time and power constraints. This year, 23 teams from various countries competed. South Africa’s team—nurtured by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s (CSIR) Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC)—demonstrated exceptional skill and resilience, ultimately securing 2nd place globally.

🤝 Industry Collaboration in Action

The team’s HPC system was sponsored by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Intel, who provided both hardware and support. Their three-node cluster was meticulously optimised to handle data-intensive workloads with speed, efficiency, and reliability. This is a prime example of effective industry–academia collaboration, and how meaningful public–private partnerships can drive technical advancement and human capital development.

🇿🇦 A Win for South Africa, A Signal to the World

At Eclipse Holdings, we view this win as more than a competition result. It is a clear indication that Africa is producing HPC talent capable of competing on a global scale—a signal to industry, research institutions, and policy-makers alike.

As a company focused on helping organisations adopt and scale HPC solutions, we are proud to see homegrown talent thriving at the highest level. The success of the CHPC team reflects our broader national potential to lead in advanced computing and digital infrastructure.

💡 Why This Achievement Matters

This moment holds particular significance for South Africa’s technology ecosystem:

• Workforce Readiness: These students represent the next generation of systems engineers, software architects, data analysts, and AI innovators.

• HPC Ecosystem Growth: It brings attention to the value of HPC in solving complex problems—from climate modelling and genomics to financial simulations.

• African Excellence: It boosts global confidence in South Africa’s ability to participate in, and lead, high-stakes digital innovation.

🚀 Looking Forward: Investing in the Future of HPC

Eclipse Holdings is proud to have played a leading role in managing the CHPC Student Cluster Project. Witnessing the team perform at such an exceptional level reinforces our commitment to nurturing local talent, mentoring future leaders, and positioning South Africa as a global force in high-performance computing.

As a company dedicated to driving HPC/AI transformation across both public and private sectors, we see achievements like this as powerful proof of what’s possible when vision, strategic support, and technical excellence align.

We applaud the CHPC team, their mentors, and every partner who contributed to this success. Their silver medal is not only a symbol of academic and technical brilliance—it represents the future of a more capable, connected, and competitive Africa.

📎 Source

• CSIR. (2025, 12 June). CHPC Student Cluster Competition team secures 2nd place in international supercomputing contest. Retrieved from: https://www.csir.co.za/chpc-student-cluster-competition-team-secures-2nd-place-international-supercomputing-contest

Lengau – Africa’s Supercomputing Cheetah

Unleashing the Power of High-Performance Computing in Africa

In the ever-evolving world of scientific innovation and technological progress, South Africa stands tall with one of the continent’s most powerful computational assets: the Lengau supercomputer. Derived from the Setswana word for “cheetah,” Lengau embodies speed, agility, and raw computing strength — qualities essential to solving some of the world’s most complex problems.

What is Lengau?

Lengau is a petascale High-Performance Computing (HPC) system housed at the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC), a unit of South Africa’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). With a capacity of over 1 petaFLOP (one quadrillion floating-point operations per second), Lengau was launched in 2016 and quickly gained international recognition, ranking 120th on the global Top500 list of supercomputers at the time.

Eclipse’s Role in Building African Supercomputing

Lengau’s development and ongoing success would not have been possible without Eclipse Holdings — Southern Africa’s leading HPC systems integrator.

Eclipse was responsible for the design, supply, and full deployment of the Lengau system, integrating best-in-class components from Dell EMC, Intel, and Mellanox to create a robust and scalable infrastructure. But Eclipse's involvement didn't end with delivery.

For over eight years, Eclipse has continued to provide dedicated support, upgrades, and system maintenance, ensuring that Lengau stays operational, efficient, and ready to meet the growing computational demands of South Africa’s research community.

Why Lengau Matters

Lengau isn’t just a machine — it’s a national asset. It powers cutting-edge research across numerous domains:

• 🌍 Climate and Weather Modeling – Enhancing disaster preparedness and environmental policy.

  
  

• 🧬 Genomics and Bioinformatics – Driving breakthroughs in personalized medicine and disease mapping.

  
  

• 🌌 Astronomy – Supporting the data demands of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and Meerkat telescopes.

  
  

• 🧪 Scientific Simulations – From chemical reactions to engineering models.

  
  

• 🤖 Artificial Intelligence Research – Training models with large datasets for local innovation.

  
  

By enabling faster simulations, real-time modeling, and data-intensive research, Lengau continues to elevate African science on the global stage.

A Testament to Eclipse’s Excellence

Eclipse’s long-standing relationship with CSIR and CHPC highlights its leadership in delivering high-performance, future-ready, and resilient HPC solutions. From initial system design to proactive maintenance, Eclipse ensures that infrastructures like Lengau remain competitive and responsive to national needs.

As we continue pushing boundaries in data science, AI, and scientific discovery, Lengau remains a cornerstone of computational capability — and Eclipse stands proudly behind it.

📌 Stay tuned for more updates on Eclipse’s HPC projects and technological partnerships driving innovation across Africa.