FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 26, 1996NEWS MEDIA CONTACTS:
Barbara Wetherell/Matthew Donoghue, 202/586-5806
World's Fastest Supercomputer to Meet 21st Century Challenges
President Clinton Announces Pact with IBM to Deliver Next Generation Computer in 1998
President Bill Clinton today launched a four-year, $93 million public/private partnership to build the world's fastest supercomputer. Up to 300 times faster and more powerful than existing machines, the new supercomputer will enhance U.S. national security and economic competitiveness. This new supercomputer--the result of a visionary collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), its Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and International Business Machines, Inc. (IBM)--will be on-line in 1998.The new supercomputer project, called DOE Option Blue, will advance national security objectives as well as civilian applications in science and technology, medicine and American industrial competitiveness. It is a critical tool for strengthening the U.S. national security program and supporting President Clinton's commitment to a zero-yield, Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
"The pact with IBM will help the United States meet the triple challenge of ensuring our national security, enhancing our competitive edge in the global economy, and protecting the environment," said President Clinton. "This computer technology has an almost limitless variety of applications, from national security to medicine to manufacturing; it will enhance the quality of life for every American," the President concluded.
The President's decision to pursue a worldwide nuclear test ban shifted the way the United States ensures confidence in the safety, performance, and reliability of its nuclear stockpile. Science-based methods will shift stockpile management from being based on nuclear testing toward an approach based on large computer simulations that can examine different aspects of weapons physics.
"Bringing together America's best and brightest in science and technology, this partnership is another example of the Clinton Administration's commitment to a mission of science in service to society," stated Secretary of Energy Hazel R. O'Leary. "From nuclear weapons safety and global warming simulations to aircraft design and more effective medicines, the American people will soon see the benefits of this investment in their homes and workplaces and in a manifestly safer world."
Today's action is a critical step in providing the computers that will take simulation to much higher levels much more quickly than previously expected. Supercomputer simulation technology will shorten product cycles and allow U.S. industry to meet customer demands faster and cheaper.
This contract to site the computer at Lawrence Livermore follows the procurement last year of the first Accelerated Strategic Computer Initiative (ASCI) system from Intel Corporation, code-named "Option Red." That 1.5 trillion-operations-per-second computer will be delivered to DOE's Sandia National Laboratories in December. Work is underway at DOE's three nuclear weapons laboratories to develop simulations that will answer important weapons-performance issues using the Option Red computer in early 1997.
The President made his announcement during a ceremony at the White House at which nine National Medals of Science and five National Medals of Technology (America's equivalent of Nobel prizes) were awarded to 13 individuals and one corporation for their outstanding achievement in these fields.
-DOE-
R-96-109
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
