from July 23, 2003, News-Sentinel

original URL:
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/opinion_columnists/article/0,1406,KNS_364_2129121,00.html

ORNL supercomputing may get funding boost

By Frank Munger
July 23, 2003

Things are looking good for high performance computing at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The House energy and water appropriations bill knocked down some of the Bush administration's funding requests for Department of Energy programs, but it included an additional $40 million for the Advanced Scientific Computing Research Initiative. That brings the total to $213.5 million, much of which could end up in Oak Ridge - if, of course, the Senate concurs on the spending level.

ORNL is working with Cray Corp. to develop the X1 supercomputer into a beat-everything machine.

There were concerns that the administration’s proposed spending for fiscal 2004 wouldn't be enough to support U.S. challenges to Japan’s Earth Simulator for world computing supremacy. The added funding could bolster the aggressive timetables.

Ray Orbach, director of DOE's Office of Science, said U.S. Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, chairman of the energy and water appropriations subcommittee, has made the computing initiative his personal priority.

Orbach, however, noted that it's much more than a contest of calculating speeds.

"It's a complicated situation,"’ he said during a visit to ORNL last week. "We don't want to just build another Earth Simulator. What we want to do is build a computer that's suited to solve scientific problems, and it takes a while to figure out what architecture, what balance, is required to be most effective."

Oak Ridge's work with the Cray X1 is one of the contenders for priority funding, but Orbach noted that computer programs at other national laboratories, such as Argonne and Lawrence Berkeley, are in the mix.

"I think there'll be a competition between the laboratories, and I think Oak Ridge is very well-positioned," he said.

Early results with the first cabinets of the Cray X1 have met expectations and then some.

"They sound not only very promising; they're very exciting," Orbach said. "They have efficiencies in the 60 to 70 percent range, which no other computer that we've seen - apart from the Earth Simulator - can approach. I believe that eventually other architectures may also be as efficient, but right now the X1 really stands out."

***

HANDSHAKES FOR ALL: U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abrahammet the press, and that was about the extent of it.

Abraham fielded a few questions from local reporters at the tail end of his Oak Ridge visit last week, but he managed to say little of substance during the exchange. Like many of his predecessors, Abraham was a politician (losing his re-election bid in 2000 as U.S. senator from Michigan) before he became the nation's energy chief. Those skills were apparent.

I asked him if he thought there should be a cap on the number of DOE management contracts held by one company. I mentioned Battelle, which already manages or co-manages four of DOE’s national laboratories - including ORNL - and has its sights set on two others coming up for bid.

Abraham didn't answer the question, although he did note that such a cap doesn't exist. He added: "Our goal is to make sure that each of our facilities is run in the best possible way by the people who demonstrate in the application effort that they will perform well."

I also asked him about the broad criticism of DOE's work in the compensation program for sick nuclear workers.

"It's not fair," he said, noting that DOE's role is not as clear cut as that of the Department of Labor. DOE is supposed to help workers prepare their claims with state workers' compensation programs.

"We have no control over how state workers' comp processes work," he said. Abraham insisted his agency is doing what it can to support past and present workers in the nuclear complex. "I'm deeply committed," he said.

Senior Writer Frank Munger covers the Department of Energy for the News Sentinel. He can be reached at 865-342-6329 or at munger@knews.com.