France has secured its first SKAO construction contract, with computing specialists Eviden (part of Atos Group) tasked with delivering the Science Data Processor (SDP) hardware for the Observatory’s two telescopes. The SDP will handle massive data volumes, reducing and processing up to a million 4K-equivalent streams to produce detailed sky images, ultimately archiving ~700 PB annually. Initial hardware deployments are planned in Australia and South Africa in 2026. The contract highlights France’s leading role in high-performance computing for SKAO and its contribution to this global project.
Read SKAO press release.
Image: (L-R) Emmanuel Le Roux, Head Advanced Computing and AI at Eviden, and Dr Simon Berry, SKAO Deputy-Director General, at the contract signing ceremony in Paris on 14 November (C) SKAO