Re: No more NSA supra-computer?

[tcmay@localhost.netcom.com (Timothy C. May)]

>>Yesterday I was talking with a friend, and the subject of supercomputers
>>came up. Naturally, I mentioned the NSA 7000 Y-MP equivalent and Gunter
>>Ahrendt's list of supercomputers worldwide (finger
>>gunter@yarrow.wt.uwa.edu.au). My friend sent me a note this morning saying
>>that he couldn't find that machine on Gunter's list; sure enough, it's been
>>removed.
>>
>
>My guess, and this is only a guess, is that it disappeared for "security"
>reasons. They have a habit of keeping the smallest bit of light from
>emerging. For instance, no one knows the "Black" part of the budget. It's
>classified. But you can take the total budget amount and subtract the
>non-Black section and get the result. They make you do the math.

I was intrigued by this disappearance, so I sent an e-mail message to
Gunter Ahrendt. Through the joys of time zones, my message this evening was
answered within minutes, from Australia.

He told me the NSA machine remains, though it has been renamed, has been
put under another site, and its performance rating has been recalculated
based on a new metric. Gunter's latest report (in comp.sys.super) explains
the new metric.

Grepping for the name "SMPP," here's where I found it:

58) 16.46 - (APR-1994) [SRC]
        Supercomputing Research Center,Bowie,Maryland,US,root@super.org
        1) Cray 3/4-128 [-4Q96]           11.46?
        2) SRC Terasys                  ~  5
        3) SRC SMPP-4/2M [+4Q96]         503.33?

This is also very intriguing. The machine formerly called the "NSA
SMPP-2/2M" and expected to be located at NSA Central Security Service, is
now to be located in nearby Bowie at the Supercomputing Research Center.

I guess that means the SRC is doing more than just "academic computing"!

--Tim May

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Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
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