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Supercomputing Centers Take Steps to Expand National Research Capacity
Earlier this year, the Council on Competitiveness released a report on the nature and extent of high-performance computing in the private sector. This investigation, conducted by the council's High Performance Computing (HPC) initiative, found that while international best-in-class firms often make use of high-performance systems to solve complex problems, leading U.S. firms and their suppliers underuse these resources. It would greatly benefit the U.S. innovation economy to expand cooperation between private sector firms and supercomputing centers, according to the report.
Several supercomputing centers have recently taken steps to expand access to their computing power. University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute recently received a contract to inform defense manufacturers about the opportunities provided by modern supercomputing resources. The $3.6 million contract will help expand training and outreach programs, as well as fund specific pilot programs to design computing solutions for the specific needs of defense manufacturers.
USC will collaborate with the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) on the project through OSC's Blue Collar Computing initiative. OSC will provide defense manufacturers with real-time modeling solutions. Since 2004, OSC's initiative has offered assistance to the state's businesses by informing them about the possibilities of supercomputing.
In addition to providing access to its systems, the Blue Collar Computing program conducts outreach to industries that could benefit from supercomputing, even though many firms might not be aware of the solutions HPC can provide. The center works with firms to help them become familiar with advanced techniques for product development, design and manufacturing. Recently, the center has collaborated with PolymerOhio to reach out to the state's polymer industry and make the results of polymer research more easily available.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has reached a milestone in its four-year effort to upgrade its supercomputing capabilies for unclassified research. After some recent upgrades, the laboratory's Cray XT Jaguar is now the world's fastest supercomputer for unclassified research. The achievement was be confirmed on Tuesday when the biannual TOP500 ranking of supercomputing systems was released. The Department of Energy's Office of Science makes the system available to academia, industry and government agencies to solve the most complex computational problems. ORNL Director Thom Mason believes that by having a system dedicated to open, high-impact scientific research, the lab will be able to take the lead in addressing pressing scientific problems in alternative energy research and climate change.
More information about the Council on Competitiveness's Compete 2.0 and High-Performance Computing Initiative is available at: http://www.compete.org/about-us/initiatives/hpc/.
Find out more about Blue Collar Computing at: http://www.osc.edu/bluecollarcomputing/.
Learn more about the new system at: http://www.ornl.gov/info/press_releases/get_press_release.cfm?ReleaseNumber=mr20081117-00