GOVERNMENT

The House of Representatives gave final approval to a bill that will strengthen U.S. competitiveness by revitalizing domestic computing capabilities and supporting the development of the world's fastest supercomputers. By a voice vote, the House passed H.R. 4516, the Department of Energy High-End Computing Revitalization Act of 2004, which will further U.S. supercomputing efforts by establishing a research and development (R&D) program within the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop new, record-breaking computing capabilities. The bill also authorizes DOE to establish supercomputer user facilities that will provide U.S. researchers access to some of the world's most advanced computers on a competitive, peer-reviewed basis. H.R. 4516 was introduced by Energy Subcommittee Chairman Judy Biggert (R-IL), and the House originally passed the bill in July. The Senate then amended the bill to reflect the result of negotiations with the Science Committee and passed it by unanimous consent last month. Yesterday's House passage sends the bill to the President, who is expected to sign it. Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) said, "Supercomputing capability is increasingly becoming a vital component of the efforts of industry and academia to remain global leaders. By supporting the development of the world's fastest computers, and ensuring U.S. researchers and engineers have access to them, H.R. 4516 will strengthen overall U.S. competitiveness and help ensure a healthy, robust economy. The Science Committee also intends to begin work again early next year on a comprehensive supercomputing bill, like H.R. 4218, the High-Performance Computing Revitalization Act of 2004, which the House passed earlier this year." "High performance computers are central to maintaining U.S. leadership in many scientific fields," said Chairman Biggert. "With House passage of this bill, American researchers are one step closer to gaining the tools they need to remain the world leader in the development and use of supercomputers. Our nation's scientific enterprise, and our economy, will be stronger for it." Congressman Lincoln Davis (D-TN), lead Democratic sponsor of H.R. 4516, said, "With today's vote Congress has made a decision to build the fastest and most efficient computers in the world. This sends a strong message of America's commitment towards leading the world in the research and development of supercomputing technology, as well as in the field of science and engineering." H.R. 4516 was drafted with the input of industry leaders who are breaking new ground in the development of supercomputing hardware and software, and are key players in the effort to advance U.S. supercomputing capabilities. Two U.S. companies, IBM and Silicon Graphics Incorporated (SGI), made world headlines last week when computers they built were officially certified as the fastest in the world. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Blue Gene, which was built by IBM, was certified as the world's fastest computer, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Columbia, built by SGI, was certified as the world's second-fastest. Commenting on passage of H.R. 4516, IBM Vice President for Technology and Strategy, Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger, who testified at a June Science Committee hearing on the nation's supercomputing capabilities, said, "The efforts of Congress to advance high-performance computing (HPC) are critical to innovation in the US. The most important aspect of HPC is that through government, university, industry partnerships, we can build fast, useable, reasonably priced systems in order to advance science and solve problems of importance to our society, from the most sophisticated scientific simulations to cancer diagnosis." "Supercomputing drives a long food chain," said Bob Bishop, chairman and CEO of SGI. "It begins with research and discovery, ripples through invention and innovation, and finally extends into the economy, public safety and national security at large. H.R. 4516 is clear recognition that to out-compete in the 21st Century, the U.S. will have to out-compute." Jim Rottsolk, CEO of Cray Corporation, a global supercomputing leader, said, "Passage of the DOE High-End Computing Revitalization Act will help the U.S. regain and maintain the supercomputing primacy that is needed for continued leadership in science and industry, national security and quality of life." The major change in the final version of the bill is a provision requiring the Secretary of Energy to establish at least one R&D center devoted to the development of software for supercomputing applications.