Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station Selects Dell Technologies to Build a Secure AI Platform for National Research

Story Highlights

• The Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) selects Dell to deploy IGNITE, a shared AI and high-performance computing platform designed to support federally sponsored, industry and academic research
• State-funded initiative positions TEES to compete for a new class of federal research programs while expanding access for students, researchers and external collaborators

ROUND ROCK, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) has selected Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) to design and build the Innovative Growth in Next Generation AI Technology Ecosystem (IGNITE), a new AI and high-performance computing (HPC) platformⁱ. Funded by the State of Texas, IGNITE will support large scale, AI-driven research across engineering, national security, scientific discovery and other research disciplines using shared infrastructure built to handle workloads with varying security requirements.

IGNITE is designed to scale alongside growing research demands and is expected to be among the largest AI deployments in higher education powered by AMD Instinct™ MI355X GPUs, supporting the next generation of HPC- and AI-driven research.

Why it matters

As federal research programs face greater complexity and security requirements, the infrastructure to support them has become as strategic as the research itself. TEES is the official research agency for Texas A&M Engineering and is pivotal in advancing interdisciplinary research across The Texas A&M University System. As part of a land-, sea- and space-grant R1 university, TEES leads federally sponsored programs spanning energy, healthcare, AI and more.

IGNITE will expand TEES' capacity to take on increasingly complex research programs. This includes several priority research areas that require large-scale scientific computation, such as mission-critical AI model and LLM development, materials discovery, advanced manufacturing, robotics and defense- and aerospace-related research, where requirements for data governance and security vary by program and sponsor.

A new model for secure, shared research infrastructure

Dell AI Services experts worked with TEES throughout the planning and design process to align the architecture to both research priorities and security requirements. IGNITE introduces a shared infrastructure model governed by policy-based, zero trust security controls. Researchers, students and external collaborators can access shared compute resources across projects with varying security requirements, without the cost and complexity of separate, siloed environments.

Designing a secure, scalable AI research environment

IGNITE will feature Dell PowerRack systems with liquid-cooled Dell PowerEdge XE9785L servers and AMD Instinct MI355X GPUs to accelerate AI training, inference, HPC and other data-intensive workloads across research programs. The data foundation is anchored by Dell AI Data Platform storage (Dell PowerScale) and will deliver high-performance data access and management for large-scale research environments, while Dell Managed Services will support ongoing operations as research demands grow.

Dell will deploy the integrated systems at an Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX^®) data center in Dallas.

Building on a long-standing collaboration in research and education

IGNITE builds on a long-standing relationship between Dell and the Texas A&M University System. Dell solutions already power Texas A&M HPC ecosystems, including systems such as FASTER, Grace, ACES and Launch.

The collaboration also extends into incubation environments, where researchers and students develop practical AI skills, and into the classroom, where Dell tools and AI-powered solutions are preparing the next generation of engineers, scientists and business leaders.

Perspectives

"As a research organization with more than a century of experience supporting federal agencies, industry and academia, we are constantly evolving to meet the needs of the programs we serve," said Dr. Robert H. Bishop, vice chancellor and dean, Texas A&M Engineering. "This platform we’re building with Dell Technologies expands what we can take on — supporting increasingly complex, secure research for years to come. It aligns technology investment to long-term institutional priorities while positioning TEES to support the research programs that matter most to the nation."

"The future of research depends on providing researchers and students with access to the right technologies, the right expertise and the freedom to innovate. IGNITE advances The Texas A&M University System’s commitment to expanding access to next-generation computing environments that support AI-driven research, high-performance workloads and emerging technologies," said Dr. Vince Kellen, chief information officer, The Texas A&M University System. "Through collaboration with industry leaders such as Dell Technologies, AMD and Equinix, we are building a flexible and scalable platform that accelerates discovery, strengthens workforce development and creates new opportunities for partnership across academia, government and industry."

"Universities like Texas A&M are at the center of research that shapes national security, economic growth and scientific discovery," said Fran Bogle, senior vice president, Higher Education and Healthcare, Dell Technologies. "IGNITE gives TEES the AI and compute foundation to compete for the next generation of federal and state research programs - with security controls that keep sensitive data protected without limiting access for the researchers and collaborators who need it. That's the kind of partnership, from architecture and design to managed services, that defines how Dell works with leading research universities."

“As research grows more complex, institutions need infrastructure that can support both AI and traditional high-performance computing,” said Thomas Zacharia, senior vice president, Strategic Technical Partnerships and Public Policy, AMD. “Powered by AMD Instinct™ GPUs, IGNITE will provide a flexible platform for both large-scale AI training and traditional HPC workloads, enabling researchers to accelerate discovery across engineering, national security and scientific research.”

"Modern research environments generate and depend on massive volumes of data, requiring secure, sovereign and scalable infrastructure that can support advanced computing workloads," said Kevin Thames, vice president, Americas Partner Ecosystem, Equinix. "Through our collaboration with Dell Technologies, Equinix will provide the resilient connectivity, ecosystem and secure data center foundation needed to support IGNITE's growth, helping enable groundbreaking research and innovation across industry, government and academic communities."

About Dell Technologies

Dell Technologies (NYSE: DELL) helps organizations and individuals build their digital future and transform how they work, live and play. The company provides customers with the industry's broadest and most innovative technology and services portfolio for the AI era.

ⁱ The agreement with Dell Technologies was signed in Q2FY27.