Almost a year ago, I wrote enthusiastically about Virginia Tech's low cost, high powered supercomputer, and suggested that supercomputers for hire were a way of attracting businesses into a region, just as water and sewer were attractors forty years ago.
This Slashdot story describes Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson's latest venture--a supercomputer for hire in New Zealand.
Jackson's 500 node machine is relatively modest, ranking only 77th among the top 500 supercomputers in the world. A modest cluster can be assembled for a lot less than some regions are spending on shell buildings out by the interstate, and as a marketing tool for Knowledge Economy businesses, even a small supercomputer cluster is more likely to get your region on the short list for a relocation than a shell building.