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© The HOISe-NM Consortium 1997
Welcome to Primeur Monthly
Primeur Monthly is a newsmagazine on High-Performance Computing and Networking applications in and for Europe.
Table of Contents - June 1997
Industry news
- More on information technologies and SME's
-
Giacomo Polosa
- During the last HPCN Europe in Vienna I had a chance to comment briefly on the fact that SME's, one of the major focus of the EC programs aimed at integrating advanced Information Technologies into the " real world ", were almost absent from the conference and exhibition (See our PrimeurLive! issue). I also attempted to identify the causes of such absence or moderate participation, and would like, in this article, to add a few thoughts on the subject. It seems to me that, first of all, the Academic Structure could certainly play a substantial role in favouring the "awareness" and stimulating the creativity of future SME managers: such developments could be the subject of a 'graduation thesis', and the young graduates could almost immediately bring into the " real world " of their industrial and commercial activity the outcome of their applied or product research. On the contrary, it seems to me that there is not yet a common language between Academia and the world of Small and Medium Enterprises.
- During the last HPCN Europe in Vienna I had a chance to comment briefly on the fact that SME's, one of the major focus of the EC programs aimed at integrating advanced Information Technologies into the " real world ", were almost absent from the conference and exhibition (See our PrimeurLive! issue). I also attempted to identify the causes of such absence or moderate participation, and would like, in this article, to add a few thoughts on the subject. It seems to me that, first of all, the Academic Structure could certainly play a substantial role in favouring the "awareness" and stimulating the creativity of future SME managers: such developments could be the subject of a 'graduation thesis', and the young graduates could almost immediately bring into the " real world " of their industrial and commercial activity the outcome of their applied or product research. On the contrary, it seems to me that there is not yet a common language between Academia and the world of Small and Medium Enterprises.
HPCN Industry
- Pieter Duijst vice president SGI's new Telecom and media industry group
-
Ad Emmen
- Pieter Duijst has been appointed vice president of the SGI's European Telecommunications and Media Industry Group. As such, he is responsible for Silicon Graphics' activities in this rapidly changing market space, including sales, marketing, business development and strategic communications. This was announced at the European Forum for Advanced Business Communications in Maastricht.
- Pieter Duijst has been appointed vice president of the SGI's European Telecommunications and Media Industry Group. As such, he is responsible for Silicon Graphics' activities in this rapidly changing market space, including sales, marketing, business development and strategic communications. This was announced at the European Forum for Advanced Business Communications in Maastricht.
- HyperPlant delivers industry application of web technologies
-
Cambridge-based plant design specialist CADCENTRE has announced
HyperPlant, a product for the global online retrieval of plant data via
the Internet. HyperPlant allows the process industries remote access to
plant data. Plant designers, engineers and project personnel will be
able to access the very latest design, maintenance and operational
information regardless of their location.
- Will Microsoft dominate the workstation market?
-
Uwe Harms
- In a press roundtable Compaq presented its recently announced Compaq Professional Workstations (PSW) that use Windows NT, joining other hardware vendors offering NT based work stations. Compac wants to leapfrog the traditional workstation market with an unbeatable price/performance ratio. Up to four Pentium Pros are combined and can be used in different application areas. Partnerships with Independent Software Vendors (ISV's) will broaden workstation use. To broaden these announcements Andreas Zilch, Research Director of the META Group Germany gave an overview on the IT market in Germany and outlined future trends in the workstation market. Bertram Anderer, Realax Software in Karlsruhe, discussed the reasons why Realax ported and moved to Windows NT.
Atlantic news
- Transatlantic metacomputing connects Crays T3E in Stuttgart and Pittsburgh
-
Ad Emmen
- Researchers at the University of Stuttgart, Germany and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Centre, linked Cray supercomputers on both sides of the Atlantic via high-speed research networks. This is the first time that high-speed telecommunications networks, such as the very high speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS), have been used for transatlantic metacomputing.
- Researchers at the University of Stuttgart, Germany and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Centre, linked Cray supercomputers on both sides of the Atlantic via high-speed research networks. This is the first time that high-speed telecommunications networks, such as the very high speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS), have been used for transatlantic metacomputing.
European news
- China as a potential HPCN market for Europe
-
Chris Lazou
- An EU-China HPCN Initiative has been launched last year, managed by the the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM). The initiative is sponsored and funded by the European Commission, the Chinese government and private companies from Europe and China. It has been set up to foster business and trade between China and Europe in this high technology sector. It is an industrial activity rather than research and according to the organisers over 60 companies expressed interest, including many SMEs.
Country/Region news
Germany
-
ARTS operating software simplifies complex applications
-
Uwe Harms
- In the German BMBF project ARTS operating software is developed and optimised to support applications like smog analysis and fluid mechanics. The resulting system is an integration of the object-oriented run-time platform PEACE and the commercial operating system PARIX. The project runs from 1994 - 1997 and is funded with 3.67 Mio DM (appr. 2 Mio ECU). The partners are Genias Software, Parsytec and GMD First.
- In the German BMBF project ARTS operating software is developed and optimised to support applications like smog analysis and fluid mechanics. The resulting system is an integration of the object-oriented run-time platform PEACE and the commercial operating system PARIX. The project runs from 1994 - 1997 and is funded with 3.67 Mio DM (appr. 2 Mio ECU). The partners are Genias Software, Parsytec and GMD First.
- Karlsruhe inaugurates its VPP300/16 and IBM SP2/256 and joins HWW
-
Uwe Harms
- The virtual supercomputer centre in Karlsruhe inaugurates its Siemens-Nixdorf/Fujitsu VPP300 16 and IBM RS6000 SP 256 processors. The centre will become a member of HWW, the Stuttgart supercomputer facility centre. Measured in performance, HWW will be number 3 in the world with a LINPACK-performance of 315 Gflop/s. Two American - IBM SP2 and Cray T3E - and three Japanese HPC - NEC SX-4, Fujitsu VPP300 and Hitachi SR2201 systems are available in one facility.
- The virtual supercomputer centre in Karlsruhe inaugurates its Siemens-Nixdorf/Fujitsu VPP300 16 and IBM RS6000 SP 256 processors. The centre will become a member of HWW, the Stuttgart supercomputer facility centre. Measured in performance, HWW will be number 3 in the world with a LINPACK-performance of 315 Gflop/s. Two American - IBM SP2 and Cray T3E - and three Japanese HPC - NEC SX-4, Fujitsu VPP300 and Hitachi SR2201 systems are available in one facility.
- Debis Systemhaus signs DM 1 billion outsouring agreement with Italian Bank
-
Ad Emmen
- Debis Systemhaus, the IT services company of the Daimler-Benz group, has won a contract to process all data of Banco Ambrosiano Veneto (Ambroveneto), a major Italian Bank with 650 branch offices and 9,000 employees. The contract is valued at Lire 1,000 billion over a period of ten years (DM 1,000 million). It covers IT services such as data processing (2000 Mips, 5500 Gigabytes disk storage), desktop management (10,000 terminals), but does not include application development. For Debis Systemhaus, this is the largest external contract since its foundation in 1990.
- Leibniz Rechenzentrum in Munich accepts VPP700/34
-
The Leibniz Rechenzentrum in Munich (LRZ) accepted the VPP700/34 after
passing the 30 day stability test with 100% availability. Also the
benchmark and I/O performance tests have been passed successfully.
- Hewlett-Packard and Porsche cooperate in CAD support
- Hewlett-Packard and Porsche will combine their experience with the implementation of the CAD system CATIA V4 on multiplatform systems, and make it available to the German automobile industry. They will implement a support office in Weissach.
The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Cable Company ordered Sun Servers for broad band Internet services
- A2000 Cable Television & Telecommunications, the cable television provider in Amsterdam has ordered Sun's scalable, Solaris-based Ultra Enterprise servers to use them as the foundation for a new broadband Internet service. The service will be available to the more than 600,000 households and businesses in the Amsterdam region.
United Kingdom
- AT&T UK president Tutton retires
- Merrill Tutton, President AT&T UK Ltd, has decided to retire from AT&T, effective October 31, 1997. Bob Aquilina, President and Managing Director, AT&T Europe, Middle East and Africa, will assume overall responsibility for AT&T's operations in Europe, including the UK He will be located in London, and will be chairman of the board of AT&T UK.
- National Westminster to use Oracle 8 for data warehousing
- National Westminster Bank, one of the UK's largest financial services companies, is developing an Oracle-based data warehouse for detailed information on operational customer accounts. The first phase is already live on Oracle 7.3 using Oracle Parallel Server, but National Westminster Bank plans to transition the system to Oracle 8 later this year. The data warehouse will help the bank to analyze transaction and charging patterns across its many millions of accounts.
- Rover Group selects CATIA for vehicle design
- Rover Group has signed a three year contract with IBM for the supply of CATIA CAD/CAM/CAE software and associated services. The contract includes the provision of additional CATIA seats, which will take the total installed to 600, and some 30 man-years of support services.
- Tandem system for Barclays Bank
-
Ad Emmen
- Tandem, has installed a new electronic transfer and message switching application worth around 750,000 pounds for Barclays Bank. The new system gives added security and improved efficiency to Barclays' banking transactions. Software for the system, was provided by Software Integrators. Running on a pair of Tandem Himalaya NonStop K2000 servers, the SWIFT STAR (Swift and Telex Automated Routing) application handles both payments and cash management as well as BZW (Barclays Global bank) services within Barclays UK.
- Hewlett-Packard delivers first NavyStar installation on HMS Cardiff
- Hewlett-Packard Company has rolled-out the first phase of a new IT infrastructure, NavyStar, for the Royal Navy. As part of its overall IT strategy, the Royal Navy is deploying a new generation of non-operational networked computer systems (covering both ashore and afloat systems) in warships and Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels. Its first installation on HMS Cardiff, comprising workstations and network hardware, has now been successfully completed.
- HP and SAP new strategic partners of Volkswagen
-
Ad Emmen
- Hewlett-Packard Company and SAP AG have entered into a strategic partnership with German Volkswagen, one of the world's largest car manufacturers. Both companies will support Volkswagen in its efforts to implement a new bill-of-materials (BOM) process and the supporting IT solution for the global operations of Volkswagen.
- UK Parallel CFD Engineering activities in the Spotligths
-
Chris Lazou
- The second half of May saw a peak in computational engineering activities at Daresbury and Manchester, UK. Three meetings were organised consecutively: ERCOFTAC Summer School on parallel computing at Daresbury 12-16th, International PCFD'97 Conference at the Victoria and Albert Hotel and Granada Studios, Manchester, 19th -21st and HP-PIPES Consortium meeting, Palace Hotel, Manchester 22nd May.
- UK HPCI Conference next January
-
Chris Lazou
- An HPCI Conference is to be held on 12-14 January 1998, in Manchester UK. This is organised by Robert Allan from Daresbury Laboratories on behalf of the UK Research Council EPSRC High Performance Computing Initiative. The Conference is planning to have an exhibition attached to it and is looking for vendors to exhibit and sponsor this important event. Proceedings will be published in a book as testimony to the enabling power and cost-effectiveness of HPCN in modelling optimal solutions.
- An HPCI Conference is to be held on 12-14 January 1998, in Manchester UK. This is organised by Robert Allan from Daresbury Laboratories on behalf of the UK Research Council EPSRC High Performance Computing Initiative. The Conference is planning to have an exhibition attached to it and is looking for vendors to exhibit and sponsor this important event. Proceedings will be published in a book as testimony to the enabling power and cost-effectiveness of HPCN in modelling optimal solutions.
- The COSMOS within our grasp
-
Chris Lazou
- Last May, the COSMOS supercomputer - the world's first national cosmology supercomputer - was officially launched at Cambridge University, (see our April Issue of PrimeurMonthly). This was attended by UK-CCC consortium members, Silicon Graphics executives and a large contingent from television and the press, including Reuters, BBC, ITN and CNN. Professor Stephen Hawking marked the occasion by delivering a popular lecture entitled "Is the end finally in sight for theoretical physics?" In this lecture Professor Hawking gave a 50:50 chance of physicists finding the ultimate theory within the next twenty years.
Spain
- Parallelism improves glass manufacturing competitiveness
-
Monica Tudela
- Glasspar is a project developed at the University of Cantabria with a double objective. On the one hand, the project looks for a physical model that describes a specific process of glass fabrication on an industrial scale and, on the other, it intends to implement the model in a parallel platform to allow modelling of different production prototypes. Parallelism is a good and cheap option for glass manufacturers that need large amounts of calculation. The project has a clear industrial benefit, as it is aimed to increase enterprises' capacity of design and product quality and thus enhance competitiveness.
France
- OFTA report on parallel computing indicates France is lagging behind
-
Jean-Loic Delhaye
- France and, more globally, Europe are far behind the USA and Japan in Parallel High Performance Computing. Inside Europe, the gap between France and Germany is dramatically increasing, see for example the TOP500 list. These conclusions are in the report published in April 1997 by OFTA (Observatoire Francais des Techniques Avancees). This report is the result of a study conducted in 1995 and 1996 by a group of about 20 experts, from academic research and industry.
Croatia
- Encore expands storage installations to bank in Croatia
- Encore Computer has installed an Infinity SP40 at Varazdinka Banka of Croatia. The system was sold by M.V.S. of Croatia, a new distributor for Encore.