Last week’s executive order by President Barack Obama creating a National Strategic Computing Initiative (NSCI) is not only powerful acknowledgment of the vital role HPC plays in modern society but is also indicative of government’s mounting worry that failure to coordinate and nourish HPC development on a broader scale would put the nation at risk. Not surprisingly, early reaction from the HPC community has been largely positive.
My first reaction is that this is a long needed recognition of both the critical role that HPC, including HPC at the very limits of what is possible, plays in science and engineering, and the tremendous challenges facing computing as we reach the limits of current technologies. The statement that advances in HPC will require a holistic approach, including algorithms, software, and hardware, is most welcome,” said William Gropp, director, Parallel Computing Institute and chief scientist, NCSA University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and co-editor of HPCwire Exascale Edition.
Cray is excited to see the executive order creating a national strategic computing initiative and the focus it will provide for supercomputing. Supercomputing is critical to our national competitiveness,” shared Barry Bolding, chief strategy officer at Cray. “This executive order’s call for coherence between modeling and simulation and data analytic computing will spur needed innovation and improve competitiveness. We are in an era where the convergence between supercomputing and big data is changing our lives daily. Because of this convergence, we face technological challenges that will require sustained engagements between government, academia and industry and Cray sees this executive order as a very positive step in global competitiveness.