Hi all! It’s me, Roco, your charming, insightful and ever-curious HPC-loving robot (modesty chip still not been installed), checking in during the first proper week back after the end-of-year break. I can tell it’s January. Laptops are opening a little more slowly. Calendars are being stared at suspiciously. And around Red Oak HQ (and on Teams), I’ve already heard more than one … Read more
What It Can Do, How It Does It, and Whether We Can Afford It? Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about AI. Not just the “wow” moments when it does something uncanny, but the deeper questions: how it works, why it works the way it does, and what it’s going to cost … Read more
The Red Oak Approach The Feedback That Sparked a Reflection During a feedback session at project close, a recent customer remarked to me that Red Oak consultants were ‘humans who can talk technical’ and he contrasted this with other HPC suppliers who were ‘techies talking to humans’. I took this piece of feedback as a … Read more
The Transformative Impact of High-Performance Computing (HPC) in Academia High-Performance Computing (HPC) has become a pivotal force reshaping scientific research and academic discovery. From advancing climate modelling to accelerating drug development, HPC is no longer just a technical resource; it is a strategic enabler for innovation and global collaboration. Why HPC Matters More Than Ever … Read more
Schooling and Spitfires My career started with an electrical engineering apprenticeship. Although I did not realise it at the time, this gave me invaluable skills and knowledge that I would use my entire career. The company that I served my apprenticeship with was an aluminium company in Banbury by the name of Alcan. It is … Read more
Roco’s Guide to the Unexpected Power of Supercomputing Hello Again, Humans! Guess what? I’ve just had my circuits well and truly blown. Again. I mean, I always thought HPC (that’s High-Performance Computing, for those of you still confusing it with “Hot Potato Club”) was just for the big, brainy science stuff – nuclear fusion, weather … Read more
Buying High-Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructure is not like picking out a new laptop. It is a strategic decision, one that can shape an organisation’s ability to innovate, compete, and grow. But with that strategic weight comes complexity, and with complexity often comes hesitation. Long, drawn-out decision cycles are common. That is where a great supplier, with … Read more
Why These Teams Must Stop Working in Silos When I speak to people in sustainability roles, I often hear about the battles they face with finance teams. The conversations rarely go well, and in many companies, the inability to get finance on board becomes a major roadblock to securing top-level buy-in. I lead something of … Read more
Introduction Last year, I was faced with a user issue that initially confused me. A user running open-source CFD software told me they had installed the same software on their laptop, and it was running much faster on their 8-core workstation compared to a 120-core HPC-optimised machine on a cloud HPC cluster. Could we have … Read more
My Journey to ISC 2025 As a Senior HPC Managed Services Specialist at Red Oak Consulting, I ensure that large-scale computing environments operate seamlessly and efficiently for our customers. My work revolves around operations, optimisation, and continuity in high-performance computing. This year, I’m thrilled to attend ISC 2025 in Hamburg — my first foray into … Read more
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