Download Free The Federal High Performance Computing Program Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online The Federal High Performance Computing Program and write the review.

High-performance computing refers to the use of advanced computing technologies to solve highly complex problems in the shortest possible time. The federal High Performance Computing and Communications Initiative of the Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) attempts to accelerate availability and use of high performance computers and networks. The House Armed Services Committee asked the General Accounting Office (GAO) to assess this program, particularly the agency's distribution of advanced computers to research sites, its interaction with the research community, and the balance between hardware and software. Interviews with agency and industry representatives and a review of documents were conducted. Results indicate that the ARPA has fostered significant advances, but with several shortcomings. Placing of new computers has focused on just a few machines. Limited interactions with the technical community may be hindering progress toward ambitious program goals. Much progress has been made in hardware development, but software remains too primitive to make massively parallel processing systems useful. Recommendations for improvement are presented. Four appendixes provide details about methodology, placement of machines, and project selection, and list contributors to the report. Five tables contain study findings, and two figures illustrate computer applications and product selection. (SLD)
The purpose of the hearing transcribed in this document was to obtain the views of representatives of network user and provider communities regarding the path the National Science Foundation (NSF) is taking for recompetition of the NSFNET computer network. In particular the committee was interested in the consistency of the evolution of NSFNET with the goals and characteristics of the National Research and Education Network specified in the High Performance Computing Act. Another purpose of the hearing was to explore possible legislation that would expand the program into additional applications for broad public benefit, including education, teacher training, manufacturing technologies, medical imaging, and the creation of standards for the storage of data in digital libraries. Persons who offered testimony and prepared statements were: (1) Robert C. Heterick, Jr., EDUCOM; (2) Thomas J. Tauke, NYNEX; (3) Kenneth J. Klingenstein, University of Colorado at Boulder and Federation of American Research Networks; (4) Mitchell Kapor, Electronic Frontier Foundation; (5) Kenneth R. Kay, Computer Systems Policy Project; (6) Michael McDonald, Communications and Computer Applications in Public Health; (7) Sara A. Parker, Pennsylvania State libraries and representing the American Library Association; and (8) Charlie Bender, Coalition of Academic Supercomputer Centers. (KRN)

Grand Challenges

Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and Technology. Committee on Physical, Mathematical, and Engineering Sciences

Published: 1991

Total Pages: 76


Get eBook

In 1991 the Federal Government initiated the multiagency High Performance Computing and Communications program (HPCC) to further the development of U.S. supercomputer technology and high-speed computer network technology. This overview by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) concentrates on obstacles that might prevent the growth of the high-performance computing and data communications industries. The market for supercomputers, relative to that of other technologies, is small. The main obstacle to the rise of large commercial markets for HPCC-developed technology is that cheaper workstations may preempt further growth of the supercomputer market as a whole. In addition, an economic inertia may occur, as conventional supercomputers, working well, become difficult to dislodge in the marketplace. The National Research and Educational Network (NREN) is central to the HPCC program. The ways in which Internet is becoming the core of a national data network promise well for HPCC in the future, but HPCC technology might be precluded from having a substantial effect on the current markets if demand for high-speed communications does not emerge as envisaged by HPCC leaders. Cost considerations and policy directions for HPCC are discussed. Five tables, six figures, and one box illustrate the discussion. Three appendixes discuss HPCC technology spinoffs and speed calculations. (SLD)