9K P6

[John Young <jya@pipeline.com>]

There's a bit more on Intel's supercomp virtual NW tester at:


     URL: http://www.ssd.intel.com/press/asci1.html
  

Here's a sample:

----------

Intel Scalable Systems Division

   
   Fortunately, advances in computer hardware and software 
technologies
   are making computer-based virtual weapons testing and 
prototyping a
   viable and affordable alternative to the traditional nuclear 
and
   non-nuclear testing of stockpile stewardship. The Intel 
teraflop
   computer announced today is a key milestone in the shift 
from nuclear
   testing to computer-simulated testing.

   
  The ASCI Program
  
   Located within the DOE's Defense Programs (DP) laboratories, 
the U.S.
   Department of Energy's Accelerated Strategic Computing 
Initiative
   (ASCI) is a multi-year program to extend DOE's computational 
resources
   to support virtual testing and prototyping capabilities for 
nuclear
   weapons. ...

   ASCI has four objectives, each of which requires 
computational
   capabilities that are beyond the capabilities of existing 
systems:
   
     * Performance -- Create credible virtual tests to analyze 
the
       performance and predict the behavior of nuclear weapons.
       
     * Safety -- Predict the behavior of full weapons systems 
in complex
       accident scenarios.
       
     * Reliability -- Develop the ability to make predictions 
that will
       extend the lifetime of current weapons, predict failure 
mechanisms
       and reduce routine maintenance requirements.
       
     * Renewal -- Use virtual prototyping to reduce production 
and
       testing facilities for stockpile requalification and 
replacement
       work. ...
       
   
   Beyond its weapons safety impact, the teraflop computer will 
have a
   wide range of other applications -- from developing safer, 
more
   efficient cars to simulating natural disasters in real-time 
to finding
   new drugs to fight disease. The machine will be one of the 
world's
   foremost scientific research tools and will act as a magnet 
for
   advanced research projects.

   
   In 1963, John Kennedy referred to a test ban treaty as a 
shaft of
   light cut into the darkness of the Cold War -- a chance to 
step back
   from the shadows of war. Today, by making it possible to 
ensure the
   safety, reliability, and performance of the weapons 
stockpile while
   foregoing nuclear testing, the Intel/Sandia teraflop 
computer can help
   the world take a further step back from the shadows of war 
into the
   light of peace.