South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Program Director Kagiso Chikane recently welcomed 100 guests to the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) in Cape Town for the dedication of the fastest computer on the African continent. “Lengau,” which means “Cheetah” in the African Setswana language, ranked 121 on the June TOP500 list of the world’s fastest supercomputers. However, none hold a candle to Lengau’s potential when it comes to solving the world’s grand challenges that are deeply rooted in Mother Africa. Program Session Director Nico Meintjes, Chief Executive Officer of Eclipse Holdings opened his presentation with a quote by the late Nelson Mandela, “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” Meintjes credited CHPC Director Happy Sithole’s vision and leadership. “He knew that to out-compute, is to out-compete. However, it’s not easy to build and sustain a business case for HPC when there are many urgent and competing priorities for limited public funds. In that regard, Lengau became a reality against the odds,” he said. Read more at https://www.hpcwire.com/2016/07/19/lengau-global-grand-challenges-african-lens/