Jan. 24 — The UK’s largest distributed supercomputing network has been awarded the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 9001 certification following an extended period of preparation to pass the rigorous audit process.
ISO 9001 is part of the ISO 9000 family of standards that shows a company’s commitment to quality management that goes above and beyond statutory and regulatory requirements.
The ISO certification offers companies superior financial performance as well as an enhanced management responsibility that directly transfers to customers – making a business especially attractive to prospect purchasers. Standards are based on eight management principles, determined by a thorough audit.
Over one million worldwide organisations are ISO certified; however in 2010, a mere 44,849 of those companies were recorded as being in the UK. This further represents the weight of the recognition for HPC Wales, the UK’s largest distributed supercomputing network.
The rigorous application process – which took a total of 10 months to complete and included tests of the system and interviews with staff members – formally accredits High Performance Computing (HPC) Wales for the high quality service it provides.
The ISO 9001 team will audit and evaluate HPC Wales’ performance on an annual basis, ensuring that the venture maintains the same standards of quality.
Sian Hope, Interim Chief Executive Officer of HPC Wales, said, “We are delighted to have secured the ISO 9001 accreditation, which formally demonstrates HPC Wales’ commitment to offering the highest quality of service to all of our customers. By implementing this extensive quality management system, we have improved our systems internally, allowing us to improve the service we offer our customers. HPC Wales goes beyond that of simply providing supercomputing technology for businesses and academics. We provide support and training alongside this technology, ensuring that our customers realise the full potential of high performance computing, and the benefits of using such advanced equipment.”
Part-funded by £24 million through the Welsh Government, including support from the European Regional Development Fund, HPC Wales is committed to boosting the Welsh economy by providing academic researchers and businesses with some of the most advanced computing technology in the world.
In addition, HPC Wales is providing the training, outreach and technical support to exploit supercomputing technology effectively and power innovation.
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Source: HPC Wales