UH wins deal to manage Maui supercomputer
| • | Profile of Maui's supercomputing center |
By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer
The University of Hawai'i landed a prestigious contract to operate one of the world's most powerful supercomputers yesterday, boosting its role in advancing high-technology research and education in the Islands.
The Air Force awarded the university a four-year contract to operate the Maui Supercomputing Center, formerly known as the Maui High Performance Computing Center, and the home of one of the world's top 20 supercomputers and the secondömost powerful computer in the Department of Defense.
The contract, which starts Oct. 1 and can be extended for up to 10 years based on performance, has a total potential value of $181 million — making it the largest single contract award in the history of the university.
While the contract will not provide revenue for the university, it is a prestigious worldwide post and gives the university the honor of tending one of the world's largest, fastest computers and a chance to work with top researchers from the U.S. Department of Defense.
The center helps the Air Force conduct research and development and makes unused capacity available for other research. The university beat out a competing bid by the University of New Mexico, which has managed the center since its creation in the early 1990s.
University President Kenneth Mortimer said the contract will "advance the university's research enterprises in emerging technology areas, while continuing to advance the state's overall high-tech capacity."
Gov. Ben Cayetano, who has long encouraged the university to expand its high technology and biotechnology research programs, called the award a "proud achievement."
"It continues to enhance the university's reputation as a strong research institution and to attract interest in its sophisticated research," he said.
David Lassner, UH director of information technology, said the management contract will have a broad benefit — from high-school students to university researchers to the state's high-tech community.
Managing the center will provide the university, which previously had access to the supercomputer, greater use capabilities. The university also will have more access to technical assistance and a chance to work with top researchers from the Defense Department, he said.
Although details weren't available, UH plans to build on educational outreach programs implemented by the University of New Mexico, and place stronger emphasis on work force development across a range of technologies from high school to college levels.
Lassner said he did not know specifically why the Air Force picked UH over the incumbent, but noted that UH's proposal offered to operate the center 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Lassner added that the university plans to bring the center additional business, including leveraging opportunities with the Maui Space Surveillance System operated by Boeing Co., which will help UH manage the Maui supercomputer.
Lassner said he did not know whether Hawai'i Sen. Dan Inouye, one of the most senior members of Congress and a high-ranking member on the defense appropriations subcommittee, played a role in the decision. But Inouye, who was instrumental in establishing the supercomputing center in Hawai'i, was clearly pleased yesterday.
"It has long been my hope that the university play a greater role, in concert with the Department of Defense in Hawai'i, in utilizing the supercomputer for the benefit of its faculty and students," he said.
UH expects to begin phasing in operations July 1 in preparation for assuming full responsibility Oct. 1.
Lassner said university officials are prepared to hire people if necessary to fill any of the 70 approved positions at the center, but would like to keep as much of the existing staff as possible. Current staff are employees of the University of New Mexico or subcontractors. Gene Bal, a University of New Mexico employee, will become center director, Lassner said.
Harold S. Masumoto, executive director of UH's Research Corp., added that the university is looking forward to continuing collaborative research with the University of New Mexico.
UH will operate the center with the support of two major corporate partners, Science Applications International Corp. and Rocketdyne Technical Services, a Boeing subsidiary. The Ohio Supercomputing Center, New Mexico Tech and Textron also will provide support.
Profile of Maui's supercomputing center
• The center in the Maui Research & Technology Park in Kihei is one of the world's most powerful supercomputer facilities.
• A new IBM SP supercomputer, 40 times faster than "Deep Blue," the computer that beat Garry Kasparov at chess in 1997, was installed late last year to help identify U.S. satellites, foreign spacecraft and space junk.
• In February, a 512-processor Linux cluster supercomputer was added, the largest of its kind in the world. It can process 478 billion calculations per second.
• Chartered to support users in the Department of Defense, government, commercial, and academic communities, the center provides access to parallel computing hardware, advanced software tools and applications, high bandwidth communications, and high performance storage technologies.
• The center also offers a variety of support services from its expert staff, including application support, parallel code development, large system management, and training and education programs.
• Web site: www.mhpcc.edu
