High Performance Computing and Communications: 

 Toward a National Information Infrastructure 



The FY 1994 U.S. Research and Development Program 



Executive Summary 



The goal of the Federal High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) Program is to 

 accelerate the development of future generations of high perfomiance computers and networks and the 

 use of these resources in the Federal government and throughout the American economy. Scalable 

 high performance computers, advanced high speed computer communications networks, and advanced 

 software are critical components of a new National Information Infrastructure (Nil). This infrastruc- 

 ture is essential to our national competitiveness and will enable us to strengthen and improve 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 HPCC Program evolved out of the recognition in the early 1980s by American scientists and engi- 

 neers and leaders in government and industry that advanced computer and telecommunications tech- 

 nologies could provide huge benefits throughout the research community and the entire U.S. economy. 

 The Program is the result of .several years of effort by senior government, industry, and academic sci- 

 entists and managers to initiate and implement a program to extend U.S. leadership in high perfor- 

 mance computing and networking technologies and to apply those technologies to areas of profound 

 impact on and interest to the American people. 



The Program is planned, funded, and executed through the close cooperation of Federal agencies and 

 laboratories, private industry, and academia. These efforts are directed toward ensuring that to the 

 greatest extent possible the Program meets the needs of all communities involved and that the results 

 of the Program are brought into the research and educational communities and into the commercial 

 marketplace as rapidly as possible. 



Now halfway through its five-year effort, the Program's considerable achievements include: 



^ More than a dozen high performance computing centers are in operation nationwide. New scal- 

 able high performance systems are in operation at these centers, more advanced systems are in 

 the pipeline, and new systems software is making these systems increasingly easy to use. 

 Benchmark results improve markedly with each new generation of hardware and software and 

 bring the Program clo.ser to its goal of achieving sustained teraflop (trillions of floating point 

 operations per second) performance. 



