High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) and the National Information Infrastructure (NII) are tightly interwoven. The high performance computing and communications technologies developed under the HPCC Program provide much of the base of technologies critically needed for the National Information Infrastructure. The processing elements and servers of the NII will be founded upon the scalable computing technologies being developed under HPCC. The Program's networking component is driving the development of the technology for the high bandwidth data pipelines of the NII, while also examining diverse extensions of the network into radio, broadcast, and cable distribution mechanisms. The software technologies, including those for operating system software as well as compilers and development environments, being developed under HPCC have widespread application to complex, general-purpose distributed systems, not just those identified as "numerically intensive." And many of the Grand Challenge applications being supported under HPCC carry forward into the National Challenges articulated for the NII.
The HPCC Program's High Performance Computing Systems (HPCS) component, focuses on the development of high performance computing elements that can be arrayed and scaled to achieve higher levels of performance. These range from workstations to the most powerful supercomputers. At the heart of today's most powerful massively parallel machines are the same microprocessors to be found in relatively inexpensive desktop workstations and personal computers. And the high speed interconnection technology found in these scalable machines will form the basis of tomorrow's high speed communications network switches and processor cluster interconnections.
It has long been observed that today's highest performance computing technologies are tomorrow's desktop technologies, and today's desktop technologies will find their way into tomorrow's appliances. The same server technology needed to feed high performance computations with high data rate streams of information can be used to disseminate information to American households. For example, several of the emerging system architectures for "video on demand" entertainment services of the NII are based on massively parallel processors coupled to the kind of software- managed mass storage systems that have long been attached to supercomputers. HPCC HPCS activities continue to push forward the leading edge of high performance computing capabilities, while creating system architectures that continue to allow desktop and smaller computers to take advantage of the advancing technology.
The HPCC networking program (NETS) continues to advance networking technology, focusing on issues of interoperability and scalability, while providing new services for multimedia applications and increasingly higher levels of performance. As the distinction between channels, backplanes, and networks continues to blur, the focal point is scalable interconnection technologies. For example, the same components used in massively parallel processor backplanes are now being used as the basis for very high speed network switches for local area networks. In addition, NETS is examining alternative, more ubiquitous "on- ramps" to the emerging high bandwidth backbone of the NII. At the Monte Vista High School in Cupertino, CA, Vice President Gore observed a class of students directly accessing the Internet over the local cable TV system. This technology was developed under HPCC sponsorship.
Much of the activity in the Advanced Software and Technology (ASTA) component of the HPCC Program is directed toward the general issues of developing new programming languages, compilers, reusable module libraries, object management systems, software development environments, and operating systems software for a diverse collection of distributed system and machine architectures. While NII applications will extend the scope of these efforts to new domains, much of the core software technologies directly support the kinds of information-intensive processing that characterizes the National Challenge applications.
Solutions to the Grand Challenges of science and engineering, as undertaken by the HPCC Program, will play key roles in supporting the societal challenges of the NII's National Challenges. Many of the National Challenges will depend upon core computationally-intensive capabilities. For example, design and manufacturing applications depend critically upon the ability to prototype new products and new processes using numerically-intensive techniques. Similarly, a crisis management system must be able to invoke a weather prediction application as part of its support for disaster planners.
Recognizing the close relationship between HPCC and NII, the President's Science Advisor, Dr. Jack Gibbons, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), have instructed the High Performance Computing, Communications, and Information Technology (HPCCIT) Subcommittee to establish a new program component within the HPCC Program to support the Administration's initiative to build a National Information Infrastructure. This component, Information Infrastructure Technology and Applications (IITA), describes a research and development program to create the technology base underlying a universally accessible National Information Infrastructure (NII) and to use this technology to develop and demonstrate prototype "National Challenge" applications. These National Challenges will help to extend the benefits of HPCC technology to applications with broad impact on American society.