HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING: Advanced Research Projects Agency Should Do More to Foster Program Goals
Abstract
High-performance computing refers to the use of advanced computing technologies, especially supercomputers, to solve highly complex, numerically intensive problems in the shortest possible time. These scientific problems-such as understanding global climate change or analyzing molecular structure-are collectively called the grand challenges. The federal High Performance Computing and Communications Initiative is a research and development effort that seeks to significantly accelerate the avallability and utilization of high performance computers and networks in order to better address these challenges. At $275 million in fiscal year 1993, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) has the largest budget of any single agency participating in the $800-million federal initiative.' Given the importance of this initiative and ARPA'S dominant role in it, the House Armed Services Committee asked GAO to assess the program, particularly (1) the agency's distribution of advanced computers to research sites, (2) its interaction with the research community, and (3) the balance between hardware and software investments in the ARPA program.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA344885
Entities
People
- F. W. Deffer
- J. A. De Ferrari
- R. B. Stillman
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office