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Date: July 18, 1988

Location: PLAINSBORO

Title: Von Neumann”s Souped-Up Supercomputer Author: George M. Taber

Subject: The world”s most powerful computer goes to work on the problems of tomorrow

An average human being on a good day might be able to add or subtract perhaps two or three numbers in a second. The new supercomputer that has just been installed at the John von Neumann Center for Scientific Computing in Plainsboro can perform three billion mathematical operations per second. The machine, an ETA10, is the fastest and most powerful computer currently working in the world. The arrival of the ETA10 is another step establishing the von Neumann facility as one of the leading supercomputer centers for academic and business research in the U.S.

The supercomputer, which was built by ETA Systems, a subsidiary of Control Data, and carries a list price of between $25 and $30 million, arrived in Plainsboro on March 4. After installation, a group of twenty “friendly users” began testing the machine. By the end of July, this break-in period will be completed and the supercomputer will be made available to some 1,300 scientists at 100 institutions or companies.

Supercomputers are the heavyweights of the computer industry, although the once behemoth machines are now no larger than three or four refrigerators. Supercomputers are used on problems that would be far too complex to solve with mainframe or mini computers. Says Doyle Knight, president of the university consortium that operates the von Neumann center: “These are problems that would take months to solve with a mini computer–or years if one used a personal computer. People could retire before they had solved even a single problem.” Some 300 supercomputers have been installed around the U.S., and they are currently being used on problems ranging from the origins of the universe to new drug development.

The von Neumann center is named after the late John von Neumann, who was a professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton. One of the giants of 20th century mathematics, von Neumann in 1952 designed and built the prototype for the first IBM scientific computer. The center is struggling (with only limited success) to retain von Neumann”s pronunciation of his name. The correct pronunciation is “von noy-mun,” which rhymes with “von boy-mun.”

The development of the Plainsboro center is part of an intense international competition in supercomputing. At the beginning of the 1980s supercomputers in the U.S. were used almost exclusively by federal government employees, in particular Pentagon personnel. Very few private researchers had access to the equipment.

The Japanese, however, as part of their so-called Fifth Generation computer plan, began putting the powerful machines into academic hands. The National Science Foundation responded in 1984 by establishing a program to build five

American supercomputer centers. The New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology also underwrites part of the costs of the von Neumann center. In addition to the Plainsboro location there are also national supercomputer centers in San Diego, at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, the University of Pittsburgh and Cornell University.

The von Neumann center has been in operation since December 1985. Up to now computer scientists have been using an earlier supercomputer, the CYBER 205. Academics with projects requiring a supercomputer make proposals that are judged by a scientific peer group, which determines how much computer time the research merits.

The center has also opened its doors to the private sector. It has signed cooperative research agreements with private companies, including Squibb, Ciba-Geigy, Dynalysis, Exxon and Princeton Forecasting. Some 10% of the computer time has been made available to industry. Academics do not have to pay for the use of the von Neumann computers, but corporations must pay a consultation and services fee.

About the only characteristic common to all the problems being studied with supercomputers at the von Neumann center is complexity. A group of Harvard biologists led by Prof. Martin Karplus, for example, has spent 2,000 hours on the CYBER 205 studying molecules such as myoglobin, which stores oxygen in muscles. Robert Fernholz, the founder of Princeton Forecasting Associates, is using the powerful machines to plot future economic developments. The supercomputers, for example, could be used to study the potential impact of the current Midwestern drought on farm prices and inflation.

The new equipment at the von Neumann center is the equivalent in computer terms to moving from piston engines to jets in civil aviation. The machine is already more than eight times more powerful than the old CYBER 205, and upgrades next year will make it 25 times more powerful.

The ETA10 also has the capability of parallel processing, which is one of the hottest new fields in computer science. Up until now, a computer”s calculations had to go through one giant “brain” or central processing unit. This was the computer equivalent of a herd of horses galloping through a narrow canyon in a Hollywood western. Even if it were operating at greater speed, the one central processing unit limited the machine”s effectiveness. Recently, however, scientists have begun working on a system that permits several computer processors to work in parallel to solve a problem. The von Neumann machine now has four processors that can work together, and it will have eight by the end of the year.

The ETA10 also has the raw horsepower to give scientists a high speed, interactive graphic representation of computer data. This is particularly important as the information becomes more and more complex. Researchers from Squibb, for example, will be able to see molecules change as they develop and test potential new drugs.

Based on early trials, the new machine is living up to its billing. Prof. Juri Toomre of the University of Colorado was one of the first “friendly users” to try out the ETA10. He is studying the workings of sun and found that his experiments were completed ten times faster on the ETA10 than it would have been on the CYBER 205.

Competition with the Japanese propelled the academic use of supercomputers forward, and that rivalry continues. Says Knight: “We are in a very close race. Overall the Japanese are very competitive.” At present two American and three Japanese companies dominate the supercomputer market. The leading manufacturer in the field is Cray, which sells 60% of the machines. Control Data through its ETA subsidiary is second and has 12.7% of the market. Steve Chen, a former top official at Cray, recently set up his own company with the help of financing from IBM, but it will probably be several years before his first products are on the market. The three leading Japanese firms in supercomputers are NEC, Hitachi and Fujitsu. They now have about 25% of the world sales, but are coming on fast.

The country that wins the supercomputer race will be the dominant industrial power of the early 21st century. Scientists at the von Neumann center plan to be part of that important competition.