Research computing is becoming more capable, more distributed and more demanding. The challenge is no longer simply accessing compute. It is operating HPC environments at scale, building AI infrastructure that meets sovereignty and security needs, and helping researchers turn limited compute allocations into meaningful progress.
That is the conversation XENON is bringing to the 2026 eResearch Australasia Conference.
As a Bronze Sponsor alongside NVIDIA and WEKA, XENON will join Australia’s eResearch community at the Melbourne Cricket Ground from 26–30 October. The conference’s 20th anniversary theme, Celebrating our Past – Shaping our Future, is a fitting setting to examine how infrastructure choices today shape the research breakthroughs of tomorrow.
Our speakers will share practical perspectives across three sessions.
Booting 1000 Nodes Like Two: Scalable HPC Operations with XCS
Jakub Szarlat will explore how XCS can simplify operations at scale. For teams managing growing clusters, repeatable deployment and consistent operations are essential to keeping infrastructure responsive to researchers rather than becoming a constraint on them.
AI Factories for security, sovereignty, control: architecture, requirements, benefits
Dhruv Joshi will examine the architecture behind AI factories and why control, security and data sovereignty matter. The session will focus on the requirements and benefits of designing AI capability that is aligned with an organisation’s research, governance and operational priorities.
Supercomputers aren’t magic. Leveraging local LLMs to get the most out of your compute quota.
XENON will run an academic poster that will look at a question many researchers are asking: how can local large language models help make scarce compute resources go further? The session will cut through the hype to explore practical ways local LLMs can support more effective use of compute allocations. This will be presented by Miguel Esteva and Jakub Szrlat.
For more than 25 years, XENON has helped organisations design and operate tailored HPC, AI and data infrastructure. At eResearch Australasia, we are looking forward to sharing what we are learning and, just as importantly, hearing from the people advancing research across Australia.
If you are attending, find the XENON team and let’s talk about what your next infrastructure challenge requires.
View the conference programme: https://conference.eresearch.edu.au/
