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Reference to SKA project in WC Big Data Centre initiative is misleading - DST

Johannesburg, 25 May 2016

The Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDAT) has recently published a "Request for Information / Expression Of Interest: Cape Big Data Facility". The Department of Science and Technology considers this call and the accompanying detailed specifications suggesting that the SKA project will be hosted in the facility to be both misleading and incorrect.

The publication of the above call was reported in ITWeb on Tuesday 24 May, under the headline "W Cape to set up R453m SKA data centre", which similarly suggests that the envisaged Cape data centre will host SKA data operations. Western Cape minister Alan Winde is quoted as saying that the "facility will house the systems we need to process and store the data we receive from ... the SKA SA, who are partners in the project". The article also states that this initiative is a "joint venture with the Department of Science and Technology, (and) SKA". Similar claims and statements were reported in Business Day Live on 23 May.

While the processing and storage of big data will be an important part of the SKA development, and will have great potential benefits for the nation, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) wishes to point out that these reported claims regarding the location of the SKA data operations are misleading and incorrect.

The SKA is a global project whose detailed infrastructure requirements are still under development, including those for data management and high performance computing, decisions on which will be made by an international organisation that itself is still under development. The DST is a member of this global SKA consortium but is not in any position to pre-empt such decisions. There is currently no SKA plan for a data centre in the Western Cape, and decisions in this regard will be made by the governing board of the international SKA organisation in due course.

Secondly, the technical and institutional details of South African computing and data management requirements are also still being developed, and the DST is not yet in a position to commit to any specific solution. The Centre for High Performance Computing and the University of Cape Town currently provide support to the SKA South Africa project on Big Data.

The SKA project is a major international initiative, and the decision to make South Africa its central location is a significant vote of confidence in South Africa's scientific, engineering and managerial competence to host what will be the radio astronomy equivalent of the world-renowned CERN centre for nuclear physics research in Geneva. While the DST is responsible for managing South Africa's engagement with the global SKA project, and enjoys close and supportive relations with a growing number of important stakeholders in exercising this responsibility, it is important for other spheres of government to recognise and respect this leadership role.

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