A Plan for Powering Up Processors

While today's microprocessors are vastly more powerful than those of even a few years ago, there are some computing challenges that make even the fastest computer seem like the 1950s' Univac. Many of these challenges are related to national security issues such as weapon system simulations and processing of satellite images. The government's reliance on clusters of commercial-off-the-shelf components falls far short of solving these security issues. A new plan from the High-End Computing Revitalization Task Force (HECRTF), a group chartered by the National Science and Technology Council (an executive-branch group that coordinates science, space, and technology research and development), lays out its vision for ensuring U.S. leadership in high-end computi