3 Traffic on federally-funded networks and the number of new local and regional networks con- 

 nected to these networks continue to double every year. 



More than 6,000 regional, state, and local IP (Internet Protocol) networks in the U.S., and more 

 than 12,000 worldwide, are connected; more than 800 of the approximately 3,200 two-year and 

 four-year colleges and universities in the Nation are interconnected; and an estimated 1,000 high 

 schools also are connected to the Internet. Traffic on the NSPT^ET backbone has doubled over 

 the past year and has increased a hundred-fold since 1988. 



Already, HPCC research in the next generation of networking technologies indicates that the 

 Program goal of sustained gigabit (billions of bits) per second transmission speeds will be 

 achieved by no later than 1996. 



3 Teams of researchers have made substantial progress in adapting software applications for use 

 on scalable high performance systems and are taking advantage of the increased computational 

 throughput to solve problems of increasing resolution and complexity. 



Many of these problems are "Grand Challenges," fundamental problems in science and engi- 

 neering with broad economic and scientific impact whose solution can be advanced by applying 

 high performance computing techniques and resources. These science and engineering Grand 

 Challenge problems have motivated both the creation and the evolution of the HPCC Program. 

 Solution of these problems is critical to the missions of several agencies participating in the 

 Program. 



^ The base of researchers, educators, and students trained in using HPCC technologies has grown 

 substantially as agencies have provided training in these technologies and in application areas 

 that rely on them. 



The HPCC Program fully supports and is closely coordinated with the Administration's efforts to 

 accelerate the development and deployment of the Nil. The Program and its participating agencies 

 will help provide the basic research and technological development to support Nil implementation. 

 To this end, several strategic and programmatic modifications have been made to the HPCC Program. 

 The most significant of these is the addition of a new program component. Information Infrastructure 

 Technology and Applications (IITA). 



IITA is a research and development effort that will enable the integration of critical information sys- 

 tems and their application to "National Challenge" problems. National Challenges are major societal 

 needs that computing and communications technology can help address in key areas such as the civil 

 infrastructure, digital libraries, education and lifelong learning, energy management, the environment, 

 health care, manufacturing processes and products, national security, and public access to government 

 information. The IITA component will develop and demonstrate prototype solutions to National 

 Challenge problems. 



