EU-China Industrial Cooperation Initiatives in High-Performance Computing
and Networking
by Eckart Bierdümpel
ERCIM is coordinating the European part of an industrial High Performance
Computing and Networking (HPCN) initiative between the European Union and
China. This initiative is sponsored and funded by the European Commission,
the Chinese authorities and Chinese and European private companies.
High Performance Computing and Networking (HPCN) is a crucial technology
for European industrial and scientific competitiveness. It has the potential
for great and far-reaching impact on productivity, industrial competitiveness,
environmental management and many other aspects of economy and society.
The use of HPCN systems for commercial applications is expected to be
taken up vigorously in the second half of the decade, both in Europe and
in emerging economies, such as China. Due to the strategic importance of
this technology for both the European and the Chinese industry, the "EU-China
High Performance Computing and Networking (HPCN) Initiative" has been
set-up to foster business, industrial and technological co-operation between
European and Chinese operators in this high-tech sector. Expected results
from this initiative are the following:
- raising the awareness of the available technology and expertise for
companies with potential interest in HPCN in China and in Europe
- informing the business community in this field about the market opportunities
in China and Europe
- offering a business forum, where direct contacts between potential
partners from Europe and China can be made
- establish a cooperation between European and Chinese companies in the
field of HPCN for the mutual benefit of Europe and China.
The initiative should serve as kick-off for:
- the implementation of the design and development of hardware and software
for HPCN
- the implementation of the design and development of HPCN applications
- the marketing of the products resulting of the co-operations.
This initiative is sponsored and funded by the European Commission,
the Chinese authorities and Chinese and European private companies. On
the European side the management of these activities is carried out by
the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM).
As examples the following areas could be covered by the initiative:
- networking including the most advanced technologies (eg ATM, SCI)
- multimedia (eg VoD servers, high performance web servers)
- simulation & design (eg for areas like environment and weather
forecast, seismic and oil reservoir simulation, aviation and automatic
designs).
Projects in this initiative should cover cooperation that implement
HPCN from clustering of workstations to the usage of parallel compute servers.
Activities
Two European workshops were already organised in Europe in 1997 in order
to raise the awareness of European enterprises concerning opportunities
in China related to HPCN technologies. A workshop description including
presentation slides can be obtained under http://www.ercim.org/HPCN/ws.html
The Commission of the European Union now offers industry (in particular
SMEs) the chance to have a look at the emerging markets and opportunities
in China in the field of HPCN by minimizing their risks, time and expenses,
which could be otherwise quite considerable: for up to 20 companies (generally
on a first-come, first-serve basis) the EU will participate in the travel
cost to workshops and business site visits in China.
These meetings will be organised to promote direct Sino-European contacts.
Interested European companies will have a chance to meet Chinese companies
and institutions, which are potentially interested in cooperation. The
date for the meetings isn't decided yet, but it is expected that the meetings
will be held in September in China, shortly after the HPC Asia 1998 took
place in Singapore. Thus, it will offer the opportunity with one visit
to Asia to attend the Asian conference and/or exhibition to get an overview
what is going on in Asia in the field of HPCN in general, and then to proceed
to China to discuss concrete possibilities for cooperation in the Chinese
market.
Those who already registered as interested in the initiative, will automatically
get updated information on what is going on. General information is available
under http://www.ercim.org/HPCN/.
Newly interested persons or companies should contact one of the following
persons below.
Please contact:
Eckart Bierdümpel - GMD
Tel: +49 2241 14 2256
E-mail: hpcn@ercim.org
Thierry Priol - INRIA-IRISA
Tel: +33 2 9984 7210
E-mail: hpcn@ercim.org
