IP: INTEL CORPORATION BACKS "ENIAC 2000" PROJECT

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Contact: Sandy Smith at (215) 898-1423




INTEL CORPORATION BACKS "ENIAC 2000" PROJECT


PHILADELPHIA - Intel Corporation today (Oct. 16) announced a major donation
of goods and services that will help University of Pennsylvania researchers
achieve their goal of building a high-performance, user-configurable
virtual supercomputer over the next three years.


The donation, estimated at $1.9 million over the next three years, will
support the ENIAC 2000 project, led by principal investigator David J.
Farber, the Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunications in Penn's
School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS).  The grant takes the form
of hardware and service for an array of 300-MHz Pentium(R) II computers,
which will be connected in an active-switched network currently being built
by SEAS researchers.


The ENIAC 2000 networked array will in turn be used for data- and
processor-intensive computing projects across the University in the fields
of accounting, astrophysics, bioinformatics, computational biology,
computational chemistry, computer and information science, cognitive
science, finance, computational linguistics, marketing, operations and
information management, physics, radiology, and robotics.


The Intel contribution is part of the company's Technology for Education
2000 program, which will fund advanced computing projects at 25 leading
U.S. universities.  "The Technology for Education 2000 program is a
pioneering example of industry-university collaboration in computer science
research," Farber said.


Penn faculty from the School of Arts and Sciences, SEAS, the School of
Medicine and the Wharton School will conduct research and instructional
projects using the ENIAC 2000.


The ENIAC 2000 will also be the first large-scale test of active network
technology in the country, building on the SwitchWare active router network
developed by computer and information science professor Jonathan M. Smith
in conjunction with scientists at Penn and at Bell Communications Research
(Bellcore).  SwitchWare technology allows the arrayed computers to be
partitioned dynamically by the users themselves, in contrast to current
technologies that require central administrative action.


The Pentium II microprocessor-based array provided by Intel will be used on
a number of computing-intensive research projects, including:


*       reconstructing evolutionary trees and answering controversial
questions about evolution;
*       "tele-immergence," or the simulation at actual size of physical
enviroments in remote locations;
*       three-dimensional imaging and image analysis;
*       molecular modeling in theoretical chemistry;
*       studying the structure of the cosmos, including the clustering and
evolution of galaxies;
*       particle-physics research into the origin of mass and the asymmetry
between matter and antimatter;
*       natural language processing, including constructing co-reference
chains and parallel parsing of lexicalized grammars;
*       studies of market volatility, asset allocation and investment behavior;
*       research into decision-making and the role of information systems,
communications and business strategy in a global economy;
*       applying game theory and simulations to the design of competitive
strategies in marketing.


"The ENIAC 2000 project represents Penn at its best," said Ralph Amado,
vice provost for research. "It draws on the skills and interests of faculty
across the University, who can each take advantage of and build on the
others' strengths."


-30-


Oct. 16, 1997


__________________________________________________________________________
Sandy Smith, Exile on Market Street, Philadelphia   smiths () pobox upenn edu
University Relations, U. of Pennsylvania     215.898.1423/fax 215.898.1203
I speak for myself here, not for Penn      http://pobox.upenn.edu/~smiths/


"If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."
----------------------------------------------------------Harry S Truman--












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"Photons have neither morals nor visas"  --  Dave Farber 1994
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