Kenya's iHub builds supercomputer and focuses on user experience

David Bicknell

about 1 year ago 0 Comments

I came across an interesting blog that suggests Africa is developing its first supercomputer outside South Africa.

The blog argues that outside South Africa, there is little or no capacity for cloud computing on the continent. And few of the programmers in the region have the skill sets necessary to work and build out this infrastructure. That means Africa is 'severely limited' in its ability to build the foundations on which to build future services in an increasingly cloud-based computing world.

The blog suggest that use cases include

• Research and training opportunities for super computer enthusiasts and university students
• Training people capable of being SREs (Service Reliability Engineers)
• Power-Computing service for local content (video editing and production)
• A host for parallel and resource-hungry applications such as weather prediction, draught prediction and real-time information dispatch.

Similarly, the blog argues, another weak point in IT development is product design as part to a need to provide a better user experience. Core to providing better products is doing research on what users are looking for and how they are using technology in the first place.

Kenya's iHub is now creating a 'UX Lab' as a resource to serve the region. It plans to become a place where companies and startups learn about and begin thinking about user experience as they develop new products. It also plans to provide masterclass training on skills, partnering with the world's top user experience experts.

The blog suggests that both the UX Lab and the iHub Cluster supercomputer project will be up and running this summer. 

It says, "Both projects have the leadership in place to run them and the resources to build them out. They’ll both be located in the same building with the iHub, and both are being built with the greater Kenyan tech community in mind. Like all of the iHub initiatives, they only work when people from the community are a part of them."

Have you come across any similar developments such as the iHub? Do you agree with the blog's comments on the need for new skill sets for a Cloud-based world and for a greater understanding of user experience?

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