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Z by HP Data Science Software Solution: A Complete Overview
Tom Gerencer
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February 4, 2021
The open-source world is a fascinating playground for data scientists. Yet, the ever-evolving landscape of tools for deep learning, development, and big data manipulation can also be a jungle of lost time. Today’s data scientists often struggle to install, integrate, manage, and stay secure amid the flood of constantly-changing tool.
So, if you’re a data scientist – or you hire them to create business-building insights – get ready to be excited, inspired, and save a lot of time.
Let’s unpack the HP Z Data Science Software pre-load. In a nutshell, it’s a way to take all the open-source data-crunching tools you know and love and get a fast, ready-on-day-one data science install (without the installation time) that beats building your own system from a frustrating parade of moving parts.
You’ll save time for employees which translates to money savings for the business.
What is the Z by HP Data Science Software pre-load?
The Z by HP Data Science Software pre-load is a family of outstanding, open-source software tools, all integrated into a seamless, pre-installed package. The stack includes software sets like TensorFlow and PyTorch, developer tools like GIT and Visual Studio Code, plus GPU support tools like CUDA and more in a cloud-interoperable kit that’s ready right out of the box.
These tools are workspace-ready, integrated, and calibrated in a single package so they work well together with no endless tweaking of config files to make you grey (or even greyer) before your time. The pre-load allows data scientists to do what they do best: crunch data and draw business-boosting insights from a sea of facts and figures.
Benefits of the Z by HP Data Science Software pre-load
There’s a reason data scientists are excited about the Z by HP Data Science Software solution. More accurately, there are several reasons. From no-install functionality to a candy store of your favourite tools, let’s take a look at all there is to love about this pre-load.
1. GET A PLUG-AND-PLAY DATA SCIENCE SOLUTION
Anyone who’s pored through reams of online documentation for open-source software knows it's a morass where time can lose its meaning. Software configuration is a beast that we all know takes hours, but how many hours is anybody’s guess. This pre-load saves a ton of time vs hunting, configuring, and installing a forest of moving parts and getting it all to work together.
2. ANALYZE DATA AND BUILD NEW MODELS TO IMPACT THE BUSINESS
With the powerful software tools, developer tools, and interoperability of the HP Data Science pre-load, you’ll never have to worry about not having the right application at your disposal. You’ll spend more time digging up deep, Earth-shaking insights that root you firmly in your company’s value stream.
3. USE POWERFUL, PRE-LOADED DEEP-LEARNING SOFTWARE TOOLS
With the best data science software tools like TensorFlow, Keras, and PyTorch, you’ll access the most popular open-source, business-insight-pushing machine learning libraries, APIs, and deep-learning tools on earth. Here’s a quick overview of the pre-loaded tools:
- RAPIDS: The go-to, CUDA-leveraging, open-source library set for GPU-accelerated data analytics and data science
- TensorFlow: This open-source machine learning platform is packed with libraries, community resources, and a flexible network of tools, with a focus on training deep neural networks
- Keras: The popular Python-based deep-learning API for the TensorFlow platform. It lets you experiment quickly so you can go from idea to reality at the speed of thought
- PyTorch: A mighty open-source machine learning framework and Python library that gets you from research and prototyping to deployment
- Scikit-learn: Leverage the most-useful machine learning library in Python, with tools for regression, clustering, classification, and dimensionality
- XGBoost: This algorithm dominates recent Kaggle and ML competitions for structured and tabular data, thanks to unparalleled speed and performance
- cuML: Suite of ultra-fast, GPU-accelerated ML data science algorithms
- cuDF: Standout GPU DataFrame library
4. LEVERAGE TOP DEVELOPER TOOLS AND CONTAINERS
When it comes to version control, code editing, debugging web and cloud applications, and smart code inspection, open-source is king. Until now, that king has lived high atop a digital mountain, in a fortress of lengthy installs and configurations. But now the Z by HP Data Science Software pre-load brings it into easy reach. With the pre-load, you’ll get:
- Git: The wildly-popular open-source version control system that makes it easy to work your way up the development ladder from concept to debugging
- Visual Studio Code: A code editor designed specifically to let you build and debug modern cloud and web applications. It’s 100% free and open-source, and perfect for everyday use
- PyCharm: Smart code completion and inspection, with on-the-fly error highlighting. Its automated code refactorings and quick-fix suggestions put rocket boosters on your development process
- R Studio: A code editor and programming environment for R, a data science-ready programming language
- Docker: The best data science software platform for developing and running applications
5. ENJOY DEEP CLOUD INTEROPERABILITY
Whether you work in AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, or all three, enjoy seamless cloud environment interaction, right out of the box.
6. AVAILABLE ON WINDOWS OR UBUNTU
The data science software stack comes pre-loaded on select high-performance workstations on native Ubuntu or Windows via Microsoft's Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 (WSL 2).
7. GET THE BEST GPU SUPPORT TOOLS
With more cores comes the ability to crunch more massive datasets, and GPUs have far more cores than CPUs. The HP Data Science preload will let you leverage these data-busting tools on day 1:
- NVIDIA GFX Driver: NVIDIA GPUs are the gold standard for data science workflows, taking you from “I’ll go out and get a coffee while this model runs” to “Hey, it’s done already”
- Virtual Container Toolkit: Use fewer system resources in a portable, more consistent and efficient way to maximize your time, with maximum security
- NVIDIA CUDA: Tap into the NVIDIA CUDA data science solution, and use parallel computing to unlock the multi-core power of your GPU
8. AVAILABLE FOR FREE ON HP Z WORKSTATIONS
Don’t pay a dime extra to get all the data science goodies of the Z by HP Data Science Software solution. While all these tools are open source, installation typically takes time, and that means money. But there’s no added price tag for all that installation goodness on HP Z workstations.
9. SECURE FROM DAY 1
Ditch the gruelling process of dodging security pitfalls to access and process data in the cloud. Save time and headaches with trusted, secure, on-site installs that don’t open your team up to prying outside eyes.
10. INSTALLING ALL THESE TOOLS ON YOUR OWN WOULD TAKE HOURS, IF NOT DAYS
Want to install it all on your own? For DIYers, skipping the HP software pre-load means you’re in for long hours or days of head-scratching. Here are links to a few of the tool install tutorials:
- Tensorflow
- Keras
- Pytorch
- Git
- Visual Studio Code
- PyCharm
- RAPIDS
- Scikit-learn
- XGBoost
- cuML
- cuDF
- R Studio
- Docker
- Ubuntu
- Virtual Container Toolkit
- NVIDIA CUDA
Where can I get the Z by HP Data Science Software pre-load?
HP’s stack of the best data science software in the open-source landscape comes pre-installed on these HP Z workstations, so you don’t have to lift a finger to take advantage of all the best big data tools.
1. HP Z4 G4 WORKSTATION
For engineers and machine learning pros, HP’s most popular workstation gives you everything you need for disruptive data science (and nothing you don’t).
2. HP Z6 G4 WORKSTATION
Future-proof your workflows with the relentless power of 384GB of memory and the Intel® Xeon® processors that industrial and military users adore.
3. HP Z8 G4 WORKSTATION
When you need extreme power of up to 56 processing cores and 3TB of high-speed memory, customize your way to deep data insights with the HP Z8’s ultra-quiet performance.
4. HP ZBOOK STUDIO G7 MOBILE WORKSTATION
For phenomenal power on-the-go, the HP ZBook Studio G7 is the ultimate benchmark for modelling and clustering in planes, trains, cafes, or just doing a little data mining on the upstairs couch when the kids are playing lava monster in the den.
5. HP ZBOOK CREATE G7 MOBILE WORKSTATION
Maximum portability meets the apex of performance with 10th Generation Intel Core™ processors, up to 32GB of RAM, and up to 2TB of local NVMe storage.
6. HP Z4R AND Z2 WORKSTATION PCS
Need more options? In early 2021, the pre-load should also be available on all HP Z4R and HP Z2 machines. So, wherever your models or visualizations take you, there’s an HP Z workstation pre-loaded for you.
You can also check out the best data science laptops on the market in our guide; 10 Best Laptops for Data Science and Data Analysis.
Who uses the Z by HP Data Science Software pre-load?
The Z by HP Data Science Software stack is a big hit for industries with super-sized datasets that need to pull quick order from oceans of chaos.
- Government and defence contractors
- Healthcare professionals
- Retail, manufacturing, and financial services data scientists
- Advertising
- Higher education
- Product development
- The entertainment industry
- The petroleum industry
The HP Data Science Software stack opens up new pathways to drive operational efficiency and clinical research, predict investment outcomes, forecast production and maintenance schedules, and detect process anomalies. Wherever you use the Z by HP Data Science Software Pre-Load, this is an exciting time to be a data scientist.
WHY DEFENSE CONTRACTORS AND DATA SCIENCE PROS RELY ON HP Z DATA SCIENCE WORKSTATIONS AND LAPTOPS
There’s a battalion of good reasons HP Z data science laptops and workstations are best-in-class with defence contractors and data science pros alike. One top defence contractor found these machines to be 310x faster at data prep than traditional computers, and they realized a 66% cost savings over 3 years vs AWS.
They also fell in love with the way HP Z workstations keep all data onsite, which creates a far more secure environment. These machines slash analysis time, create large models on a single GPU RAM card, and rival much more expensive cloud equipment at far less cost with more robust security. That’s why the HP Z laptops and workstations are the hands-down favourite among the most demanding data scientists on the planet.
Summary
The Z by HP Data Science Software pre-load puts dozens of the best open-source software solutions in a ready-to-go package. It’s a future-forward way to pull deep insights from massive data sets today, without having to navigate a forest of config files and compatibility issues tomorrow. Put this exciting plug-and-play software stack to work for you right now on select HP Z workstations and laptops.
