Govt to spend $27m on supercomputer network - who gets the money

UPDATE: Asked who, specifically, would get the money, a spokesman for Mr Mapp's office told NBR: 

"The $27.4 million goes to the host institution (the University of Auckland) which will then spend it alongside the co-investment from the partner organisations (mainly NIWA, the University of Canterbury and AgResearch) to purchase high performance computers, storage and services. These collective services will be provided out of those institutions for use by researchers nationally (that is, not just the partner institutions)."
 

The government plans to spend $27 million on a network of high-performance computers "to keep New Zealand researchers at the cutting edge of science," Science and Innovation Minister Wayne Mapp said today. 

The project will be called the National eScience Infrastructure network or  NeSI).

It will be made up of linked supercomputers and associated services such as software and data storage. “NeSI will power research that will deliver on the Government’s top priority – growing the economy,” Mr Mapp said.

"NeSI will have a very wide range of applications, ranging from designing high-tech devices through to areas such as gaining a better understanding of brain diseases and fine-scale weather prediction.” Access to these services will be prioritised to areas supporting the Government’s agenda for economic growth. 

Some of New Zealand’s top research organisations are co-funding NeSI, adding nearly $21 million over four years to the Government’s investment.

They are the Universities of Auckland, Canterbury and Otago, and Crown research institutes NIWA, AgResearch and Landcare Research. The institutions will work together to build NeSI, which will include both new and existing high-performance computing hardware and services. NeSI will use the Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network (KAREN), which provides extremely high capacity broadband to research and education organisations, and some government institutions.

$4 million more for KAREN
The Government is also increasing funding for KAREN. From 2013/14 it will put an extra $4m a year towards KAREN’s operating costs.   

Privately held FX Networks holds the government's domestic contract for KAREN, while TelstraClear holds the contract for international connectivity.