Universities, state officials push to broaden corporate access to high-performance systems
(Computerworld) President-elect Barack Obama will soon outline an economic stimulus plan that likely will include billions of dollars for infrastructure projects, such as roads, bridges and new schools. Obama is also hearing calls for new funding to improve the information infrastructure and the virtual highways it runs on and to broaden access to high-performance computing (HPC) systems.
Thus far, the use of supercomputers to increase the industrial might of the U.S. has amounted to little more than an asterisk from a financial standpoint in both the federal budget and the economy as a whole. Market research firm IDC estimates that the public and private sectors spent a combined total of just over $10 billion on HPC systems last year.
To provide some perspective, consider this: Since September, the U.S. government has spent $150 billion to keep insurer American International Group Inc. afloat. Meanwhile, HPC resources are inaccessible to many companies that could benefit from using the technology.
More: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9121718&source=NLT_AM&nlid=1
(Computerworld) President-elect Barack Obama will soon outline an economic stimulus plan that likely will include billions of dollars for infrastructure projects, such as roads, bridges and new schools. Obama is also hearing calls for new funding to improve the information infrastructure and the virtual highways it runs on and to broaden access to high-performance computing (HPC) systems.
Thus far, the use of supercomputers to increase the industrial might of the U.S. has amounted to little more than an asterisk from a financial standpoint in both the federal budget and the economy as a whole. Market research firm IDC estimates that the public and private sectors spent a combined total of just over $10 billion on HPC systems last year.
To provide some perspective, consider this: Since September, the U.S. government has spent $150 billion to keep insurer American International Group Inc. afloat. Meanwhile, HPC resources are inaccessible to many companies that could benefit from using the technology.
More: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9121718&source=NLT_AM&nlid=1