Information processing and opportunities for HPCC use in industry

Abstract

The National Information Infrastructure of the future will be built upon core HPCC technologies such as parallel architectures, software, and high-speed networks. In addition to the key enabling technologies associated with high-performance scientific computing, such as image processing algorithms and linear algebra libraries, information processing applications will require development and integration of new, enabling HPCC technologies such as collaboration services, and multimedia databases. These new technologies will find application in information industries such as home entertainment and agile manufacturing.

While simulation will remain an important HPCC application, the real opportunity for developing significant industrial applications of HPCC technologies lies in information processing. Information industries such as home shopping, electronic banking, distance education, and televirtuality are growing at a much faster rate than the product industries such as aerospace, or other manufactured goods. The current focus on scientific simulation in the national HPCC community must change in response to this trend.

Based on our survey of industrial applications of HPCC compiled over the past three years, we described four classes of information processing—production, analysis, access and distribution, and integration. We concluded that information analysis (e.g., data mining credit card holders' purchase patterns) is the most important near term opportunity, and information integration (e.g., decision support in the global economic war) is the most important long term opportunity for HPCC applications in industry.