Japan losing the supercomputer race

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Rod Van Meter <rdv () sfc wide ad jp>
Date: December 12, 2007 10:25:29 PM EST
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Japan losing the supercomputer race

Dave, for IP, if you wish...

An article in today's Daily Yomiuri.  The print edition was accompanied
by part of the Top500 table and a photo of the Earth Simulator.

AFAICT, there's no new news in the article.  But it's the time of year
when people are jockeying for budgets for the fiscal year to start April
1, so the timing no doubt has something to do with it.

A billion bucks for a ten petaFLOPS system.  Not bad.

Japan has long prided itself on its supercomputers.  Those with long
memories will recall the supercomputer wars of the 1980s and early 90s,
with the U.S. and Japanese manufacturers and governments trading
accusations of inappropriate favoritism.

One ironic note is that in that time frame, Japanese supercomputers had
substantially worse average:peak performance ratios than e.g. Crays,
meaning peak performance was the number they touted.  Now they say it's
not peak that matters, it's performance on a particular application
(which, in any impartial sense, certainly rings true).

                --Rod

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20071213TDY04302.htm

Japan losing its place in supercomputer ranks
Koichi Yasuda / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

Japanese-made supercomputers are losing their top positions as the
world's fastest supercomputers, according to a list released last
month.

Worldwide competition is fierce to build the latest and greatest of
these machines, which perform enormous calculations at high speeds and
are a pillar in most advanced technology design. And Japan has decided
fight back and try to regain the top positions through a project to
improve existing supercomputers starting in April.

<snip>

The ministry plans to install at the Institute of Physical and Chemical
Research by 2012 next-generation computers that would together be
capable of 10,000 TFLOPS, or 10 petaFLOPS. The 115.4-billion yen system
would combine a general-purpose machine and a specialized machine in
order to respond to the demands of a wide range of users.

The Cabinet Office's Council for Science and Technology Policy has
decided to promote research for the project starting in September and
has begun designs for the system.

<snip>

In the United States there are several development plans for
supercomputers at the 10-petaFLOP level, and powerful rivals to Earth
Simulator will likely debut one after another.

But there are few plans in Japan to develop supercomputers, following
the improved Earth Simulator.

Matsuoka said the world of supercomputers changes fast. "We'll be
defeated by emerging nations if we are only developing one supercomputer
in a long-term plan. We should map out ways to develop the systems on
the world level one after another," he said.




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