Intel Announces Parallel Computing Centers

Intel has announced a new group of Parallel Computing Centers to support collaboration and exploration of parallel computing techniques. The first group of centers includes CINECA (a non-profit consortium of Italian universities), Purdue University, the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at UT Austin, University of Tennessee, and Berlin's Zuse Institut.

According to Intel VP Raj Hazra, Intel hopes the centers will "...accelerate the creation of open standard, portable, scalable, parallel applications by combining computational science, hardware, programmer tools, compilers, and libraries with domain knowledge and expertise."

Intel is actively seeking collaboration proposals from parallel computing professionals who have an idea for a project that would benefit from broader consultation with industry experts. Download the Request for Proposal form from the website if you are interested in participating.

According to Intel HPC evangelist James Reinders, the goal is to support developers who are looking for ways to exploit the powers of parallel computing. "Sometimes today's algorithms can move to parallelism well with evolutionary changes. In other cases, previously designed algorithms can prove ill-suited for exploiting parallel computing. Regardless, the opportunities for revolutionary approaches are there, but beg us for inspiration."

The first five Intel Parallel Computing centers are existing HPC facilities that will take on the new role in addition to their ongoing research. According to Reinders, "We are encouraging proposals for more centers from others who relish applying parallel computing skills to existing codes and moving them into a parallel world."