The Supercomputer Famine in American Universities

In The Report of the Panel on Large Scale Computing in Science and Engineering, P. D. Lax, Chairman, 1982.

Abstract

There is a strong, broadly-based need for the acquisition of a supercomputer by the University of Illinois. More than 65 faculty members (representing over 100 researchers) in fifteen departments are included in this report. They have documented an incredible array of frontier science areas they can attack if a supercomputer is available locally. They stress that a supercomputer would greatly improve faculty recruitment, retainment, and morale. It would form a high tech center which would attract major new industrial and grant support to the University.

An Example of the type of supercomputer needed is the CRAY X-MP. It is 30-50 times than our CYBER 175, with 288 times the fast memory. It could be networked to the more than 20 local VAX machines currently owned by individual research groups. The X-MP would be available in late 1983. The capital cost is about $15 million with a continuing cost of approximately $1 million/year. Funding would be obtained from a combination of state, federal, and industrial sources.