High performance computing (HPC) centers and researchers at the leading research universities in Texas announced the formation of a consortium to meet the challenges of providing the next generation of computing and network infrastructure to researchers, students, and industry. The High Performance Computing Across Texas (HiPCAT) consortium was founded by HPC staff and researchers at Rice University, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, The University of Houston, and The University of Texas at Austin as an informal discussion group for sharing expertise and experience. HiPCAT has grown to include more researchers at each institution and to encompass additional technology areas, in particular Grid computing. HiPCAT's first major project, the Texas Internet Grid for Research & Education (TIGRE) began in July 2001, leading HiPCAT to become a formal multi-institution consortium on October 23, 2002. The unification of HiPCAT institutions strongly positions the group to address the unique opportunities presented by Grid technologies for creating a powerful research and education Grid. "HiPCAT has long served as a great source of sharing information among the HPC centers at Texas universities, but we are now positioned to make a much larger impact, in Texas and nationwide," said Dr. Jay Boisseau, director of the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas and the first director of HiPCAT. "TIGRE has accelerated and focused our efforts, in research as well as infrastructure, and we expect it to be one of the major U.S. Grid activities by the end of 2003." Phil Smith, director of the HPC Center at Texas Tech University and the associate director of HiPCAT, said, "The TIGRE project augments the Grid research projects of HiPCAT members. We can leverage existing infrastructure so that our faculty and students can advance their research and education agendas. TIGRE enables member institutions to jointly cooperate, by sharing computing, visualization, and other resources over the Grid. Every HiPCAT member is contributing resources and manpower to this endeavor." All faculty, staff, and students at HiPCAT member institutions may participate in HiPCAT activities. New members will be invited to join HiPCAT starting in early 2003, with plans to eventually include all of the research institutions in Texas that utilize advanced computing resources. "The participation of Texas universities will promote collaboration between researchers from different parts of Texas. HiPCAT will also grow to include Texas companies as well, which will promote academic-industrial collaboration, provide Texas industries with access to TIGRE, and offer additional competitive advantages," said interim Associate Director Spiros Vellas of the Texas A&M Supercomputing Facility. HiPCAT institutions will collaborate on proposals for research funding as well as in the deployment and support of infrastructure. "HiPCAT will be able to leverage Rice's long standing leadership in high performance computing and Grid enabling tools through Ken Kennedy's NSF funded GrADS project. The TIGRE test bed will be an ideal collaborative environment across the state of Texas for Grid research. The potential for collaboration between researchers in Texas universities will greatly benefit the state," said Jan Odegard, Executive Director of the Computer and Information Technology Institute (CITI) at Rice University. "HiPCAT puts Texas Universities in an excellent position to compete for computing and communication infrastructure funding at the national level," Added Lennart Johnsson, director of the Texas Learning and Computation Center (TLC2) at The University of Houston. For more information about HiPCAT, please visit the HiPCAT Web site at www.hipcat.net or contact Jay Boisseau at boisseau@hipcat.net.