Mervyn Christoffels, CHPC

The only clue that there’s something out of the ordinary going on inside the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) in Rosebank in Cape Town is a line of chillers feeding icy air into the building. The chillers are on stilts, and were lifted out of the way of the Liesbeek River in flood some years ago. There are also two small buildings, each housing a 1GW generator, should there be any interruption to the power supply.

Mervyn Christoffels, CHPC director, is showing me around the centre, which is on the CSIR campus, and says he’s interested in how the equipment he’s in charge of will shape and advance South Africa’s future of computing. “When we democratise this computational capability, we ensure that the most significant developments emerge from spaces we least expect.” Christoffels qualified as an electrical engineer, before completing his MBA and M.Com degrees. He’s now studying for his PhD in leadership at UCT Graduate School of Business. He has worked as ICT director at UWC and Unisa, before being appointed as CHPC director two years ago.