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.