Federal Government Soliciting Advice on how to Revamp the National Strategic Computing Initiative

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Networking and Information Technology Research and Developments Council National Coordination Office recently released a request for information (RFI) on how to sustain U.S. hegemonic leadership in strategic computing.

Five years ago the National Strategic Computing Initiative (NCSI) was launched to maintain and improve the U.S.’s standing as a leader in strategic computing. The plan was established in conjunction with industry and academia and revolved around five strategic objectives:

1. Accelerating the delivery of capable exascale computing systems
2. Increasing technology coherence between technology base used for modeling and simulation and that used for data analytic computing
3. Establishing, over the next 15 years, a viable path forward for future HPC systems, even after the limits of current semiconductor technology are reached
4. Creating an enduring national HPC ecosystem
5. Developing an enduring public-private partnership to ensure that the benefits of the research and development advances are, to the greatest extent, shared between the United States Government and industrial and academic sectors

Since the implementation of the NCSI, the technology around supercomputers have evolved to the point that the technology landscape now looks very different. The RFI makes note of some of these advances, which include “the increasing role of network-centric and edge computing; the need for improved software interoperability and sustainability; the availability of new approaches for hardware-specific computer; and concerns regarding the long-term future of computing architectures and underlying technologies.”

The RFI is looking for suggestions on how to stay on top of these new technological advances, and even get ahead of the curve. A series of 7 questions touching on a variety of topics are provided, with responders asked to respond to at least one. All responses are due by 11:59 EST on August 23.

To view the RFI in full and submit a response, click here: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-06-18/pdf/2019-12866.pdf