Bull has announced the appointment of Andy Grant to the post of director for high-performance computing (HPC) and Big Data Practice. Grant has more than 20 years’ experience in the UK high-performance and technical computing markets, selling complex HPC and Big Data solutions.
In his new role, Grant will focus on growing the HPC and Big Data business for Bull in the UK. It is a task that has taken on greater significance following Bull’s recent acquisition by European IT services provider, Atos, which is likely to lead to a stronger focus on supercomputing and related data analytics opportunities.
‘Our HPC business underpins our entire strategy so this is a key appointment for us. We believe Andy is ideally suited to this critical role.’ says Andrew Carr, CEO, Bull UK & Ireland. ‘He brings expertise in the UK HPC market; customer requirements and the government’s focus on ongoing investment in HPC and Big Data to help the UK transition to a digital information economy. We are delighted to have him on board to continue the work that we have already begun to increase our market share and market penetration in HPC.’
Grant will focus on driving new business with customers looking to outsource the management of their HPC systems through an approach based on collaborative engagement. He will concentrate on delivering ease-of-use, cost-savings and faster time to insight by making easy to access web portals the mechanism of choice for users to access HPC systems.
Prior to joining Bull, Grant was at IBM for nine years. Initially he was part of a team developing HPC solutions within IBM’s Strategic Growth Business Unit. Then, for four years, he was IBM’s HPC Sales and Business Development Leader with responsibility for large HPC customers in the Government, defence and academic sectors. Latterly, he become Client Executive for the UK research councils within the IBM Central Government and Defence team.
Before moving to IBM, Grant was HPC Sales Manager, Academic and Sciences Business for Silicon Graphics and previous to that, he was Research Computing Manager at the University of Manchester.
Grant currently sits on the E-infrastructure Leadership Council (ELC), a body established by the Science Minister, which advises government on all aspects of e-infrastructure including networks, data stores, computers, software and skills.
