DeiC Interactive HPC (on the UCloud platform) has become the platform of choice for Danish researchers that want a cloud solution for their research. On the 14th May 2024, the platform will be upgraded.

The platform allows researchers to work with sensitive data in their favourite (pre-built or self-managed) applications, with what feels like limitless compute and storage resources. With just a short 2 step application process to get started.

Plus, as far as researchers and students are concerned, it’s free. Although perhaps “pre-paid” is a more accurate description, since CLAAUDIA is responsible for allocating the (very substantial) annual pool of resources to projects. 

So, what’s new? 

The upgrades are far more than just cosmetic: 

• The file-browsing and management systems have received a major upgrade. 
• The app store has been totally redesigned.  
• The new search tool is now both context specific and much more forgiving of the occasional typo. 
• The accounting and pricing model is much simpler. 
• Three exciting new apps, Transcriber (for AI transcription of audio with speaker recognition), Chat UI (to let you chat with your LLM model of choice), and Text Generator (to generate AI text). 

Possibly the greatest improvement is the simplification of the accounting model for different computer types and sizes. Since everything is prepaid, the “prices” are just a way to figure out how much of each resource to allocate to each project or user. 

Previously, users needed to try to convert to between different price types (like from GPU hours to CPU hours, or CPU hours to DKK). The new prices are far more intuitive and based purely on the amount of time you need a machine to run for. 

The new applications (Transcriber, Chat UI and Text Generator) allow users to leverage the latest developments in AI and to take advantage of the powerful computer resources behind the platform.

When will it be available?

The upgrades to the new platform will likely take most of the day, so users should realistically expect to have access from 15th May 2024.

All users can just log in using their AAU credentials (just click the “Login with WAYF” option) and use their auto-allocation of resources to try out the applications on the platform, and can start all but the virtual machines and GPU compute options without applying for anything. 

Any researcher that needs any of the other resources available just needs to complete the CLAAUDIA application form, and any student groups just need their supervisor to do so on their behalf.  

As always, the CLAAUDIA team is ready to assist and can be contacted through the new Service Portal.