Supercomputers are now being used in commercial ventures unlike initially when they were used only for R&D. What are the trends in this space?
Supercomputer application is getting diversified from its previous domains of R&D to industrial use and spans across areas ranging from environment perspective to engineering designing like automobile and jetliner, energy, earth resources prospecting, etc. We are now better able to predict imminent hazardous, severe weather, and its impact on the environment. Climate researchers have seen their computational requirements increase at a warp speed to come up with feasible solutions to the imminent global environmental change.

Now, HPC is getting pervasive in pursuing curtailed time-to-solution in engineering designing, as well as reduced total cost of ownership. Auto manufacturers are maximizing the possibilities of large-scale simulations for test crashes and fluid dynamics, which enable shorter development periods.

One promising future application would be for medical sciences where HPC can be utilized for identifying root causes of diseases and drug discovery that would pave the way for customized medications.

How do you view the Indian supercomputer market currently?
India is now spearheading the evolution of the Asian HPC market. Historically, India has been competitive in fundamental research with its technological marvel, and the demand for intensive number crunching and data-centric solutions is growing with its focus gradually shifting from high-end research purpose to industrial usage.

How important is the Indian market for NEC?
The criticality of the Indian market can be gauged from the fact that India is spearheading the development of the Asian IT industry and economy and its market growth is skyrocketing at an annual rate of around 20%; synergy with increased dominance of the investment in IT service and application usage in sharp contrast to China; and high adaptability of business globalization. The emergence of India as a major force in the global economy is one of the most notable events during the past quarter century and the continued growth is likely to dominate the world economy for the next several decades.

Stuti Das
stutid@cybermedia.co.in

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