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REPORT: SUPERCOMPUTER RESEARCH NEEDS EQUALITY

According to a new report, the government should undertake a more stable and balanced path toward supporting research in custom and off-the-shelf technology in the supercomputing world.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report on the future of supercomputing

The report by The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is one of three government reports expected to influence federally-funded research in high-end computing.

The reports are expected to reinforce current work in clusters of systems based on off-the-shelf processors while bolstering R&D in custom technologies that could power petaflops-class systems.

In another result of the studies, government researchers are continuing to push their plans to acquire high-end systems capable of performing 100 teraflops.

The report, which is not expected to be complete until late next year, warned government budget makers against turning away from a current focus on off- the-shelf based systems back to custom-built supercomputers.

The report continues, "Balance is needed between exploiting cost-effective advances in widely used hardware and software and developing custom solutions that meet the most demanding needs.... Continuity and stability in the government funding of supercomputing appear to be essential to the well-being of supercomputing in the United States."

Another report to be completed for the Bush administration in August is expected to provide plans for a fresh source of funding for R&D in petaflops- scale computing and custom architectures. The High-End Computing Revitalization Task Force (HECRTF), will provide a five- year plan for funding supercomputing research beginning in fiscal year 2005.

Separately, a group of high-level government advisors, the so-called Jasons, will issue a third report in August that in effect reviews the government's Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI) program. That program has delivered a range of the world's most powerful systems based on clusters of off-the-shelf microprocessors being used at various national labs to simulate nuclear weapon tests.