INDUSTRY

Canada's high performance computing industry is critical to the health of country, and more awareness and attention needs to be paid to its development, according to a new survey of industry experts. The report, titled A Survey of the State of Canadian HPC Readiness and the Need for Highly Qualified People also determined that the industry itself has a difficult time defining precisely what constitutes high performance computing. This preliminary survey was undertaken by the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance (CATA) at the urging of the C3.ca Association (www.c3.ca) in attempting to quantify the HPC community's needs for its soon-to-be- released Long Range Plan. The Survey points to some clear conclusions. "The obvious result to me," says C3.ca Chair, Jacques Lyrette, "is that the Long Range Plan needs to have a strong educational component that C3 can and should set about achieving right away. We should soon be providing cross-Industry presentations towards increasing the awareness and understanding of the critical importance that high performance computing can have on any organization's bottom line." In addition, the industry needs to clearly define itself: "The field of high performance computing is quite diverse and, as discovered through the differing views offered by respondents, not consistently defined or agreed upon," says Kevin Wennekes, CATA's Director, Policy Research and Advocacy. "In almost all cases, the exact definition of HPC was limited to the individual's area of expertise. Many large firms, for example, could not respond directly to the survey questions as they were unable to locate a single, internal source who could speak to the entire range of HPC activities they conduct." While confronting a unique range of challenges in conducting this survey, including tight timelines, contacting the appropriate sources, and cutting through the secretive nature afforded an area traditionally perceived to provide a company with a competitive edge, the survey did result in sparking interest among key HPC firms towards continuing the initial dialogues resulting from this survey. "There has been a very positive and proactive response towards taking this initial study further," says Wennekes. "Firms such as Bombardier, IBM, and Pratt and Whitney have all expressed a clear desire to sit down with CATA and define a means of furthering the work we have started with this preliminary discovery initiative." Another key component of the report includes the results around the need for Highly Qualified People (HQP) who possess the skills and knowledge needed to perform HPC functions. A diverse array of companies made this request, acknowledging that the skill requirement cut across all sectors. The momentum generated by this initial dialogue will continue to gather force, predicts CATA President, John Reid. "The importance of high performance computing in sustaining Canadian competitiveness across all sectors cannot be understated," says Reid. "CATA is committed to working with the industry towards developing a community of practice that brings academia, private and public sector players together for the first time. We'll be announcing a major continuation of these efforts in the coming weeks - organizations interested in participating should contact us immediately to secure their inclusion in this process." The full report is available to CATAAlliance membership. Please email cmalette@cata.ca with HPC in the Header. For information on how to participate in the next phase of this study, please contact Kevin Wennekes or John Reid directly: John Reid President 613-236-6550 johnreid@attglobal.net Kevin Wennekes Director, Policy Research and Advocacy 613-769-8614 kwennekes@cata.ca