While the development of High Performance Computing (HPC) programme moves forward, the Planning Commission of India has suggested increased security measures for protection of stored data and personal information.
Speaking at the grid computing seminar of GARUDA-National Knowledge Network Partners meet here, noted physicist and senior advisor on Information Communications Technology to the planning commission, C Muralikrishna Kumar said that data security should be looked at more seriously with the development of complex applications due to the large amount of information proposed to be hosted on the grid. HPC uses parallel processing for running advanced application programs efficiently, reliably and quickly.
Stating that the government had earmarked nearly `10,000 crores for the development of HPC and grid computing, he suggested the creation of an (grid) eco-system as well as adequate workforce. “We need 200 engineers/scientists and over 2000 people to work in this field. We must ensure that at least 25 per cent of all IT professionals must be touched by HPC”, he said.
Adding further, former Director General of Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), S Ramakrishna said that such systems form a bridge for communication and cooperation. Kumar pointed out that the Department of Atomic Energy had committed to develop petaflop systems by 2014.
He also said that the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) are upgrading to 360 teraflop with 16 terabytes which is comparable to other advanced computers in the world. “The department of Earth sciences will also add 500-600 teraflops to their existing set up”, he said.