Page 47
November 25, 1997
Dr. Tom Karl
Chairman, Climate Research Committee
of the National Research Council
Harris Building, Room 466
2001 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20007
RE: Climate Research Committee of the National Research Council Review and Assessment of Climate Modeling Activities in the U.S.
Dear Dr. Karl:
Per your request of November 3, 1997, we are pleased to provide the enclosed attachments:
1. NCAR measurements of single processor performance. The enclosed table summarizes a small set of measurements that we find useful for preliminary evaluation of computers. For example, many atmospheric models make heavy use of elementary functions so we measure them. With respect to computational kernels, “radabs” is a physics module from the NCAR Community Climate Model (CCM). The “shalxx” entries are for a 2D shallow water model at two grid sizes - 64 × 64 and 256 × 256. Our experience is that results from these kernels typically provide an upper bound on the performance of a specific computer relative to a broad set of atmospheric models. Because overall performance is often paced by memory performance, “copy” measures memory to memory transfer, “ia” measures indirect addressing, and “xpose” measures
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Appendix E
November 25, 1997
Dr. Tom Karl
Chairman, Climate Research Committee
of the National Research Council
Harris Building, Room 466
2001 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20007
RE: Climate Research Committee of the National Research Council
Review and Assessment of Climate Modeling Activities in the
U.S.
Dear Dr. Karl:
Per your request of November 3, 1997, we are pleased to provide
the enclosed attachments:
1. NCAR measurements of single
processor performance. The enclosed table summarizes a small
set of measurements that we find useful for preliminary evaluation
of computers. For example, many atmospheric models make heavy use
of elementary functions so we measure them. With respect to
computational kernels, “radabs” is a physics module
from the NCAR Community Climate Model (CCM). The
“shalxx” entries are for a 2D shallow water model at
two grid sizes - 64 × 64 and 256 × 256. Our experience
is that results from these kernels typically provide an upper bound
on the performance of a specific computer relative to a broad set
of atmospheric models. Because overall performance is often paced
by memory performance, “copy” measures memory to memory
transfer, “ia” measures indirect addressing, and
“xpose” measures
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transposition of arrays, which is fundamental to the
implementation to the FFT. Probably the most important metric in
this table is the performance of CCM2.
As you will note, the first five columns of the enclosed table
give performance on leading edge microprocessor systems. The last
two columns give performance for two parallel vector processing
systems - the Cray C90, a second-generation vector computer, and
the NEC SX-4, a state-of-the-art vector computer. Relative to the
SX-4, microprocessors deliver from 7–17%, i.e., approximately
1/10th, of the performance of
state-of-the-art vector processors. While the cycle time (MHz) of
microprocessors now surpasses that of vector processors, our
measurements show that for the past decade, the ratio of sustained
performance between the two is approximately 10, in favor of vector
processors. Thus, if one can achieve a certain level of
performance, say 20 Gflops, using n vector processors,
typically at least 10 n microprocessors are required to
achieve the same level of performance.
2. A Sampling of Computing Systems in
Major Atmospheric Modeling Centers Around the World. Simply
put, our international colleagues now enjoy a substantial
computational advantage over U.S. Modelers.
3. Comments from NCAR to the
International Trade Commission. This document includes
information as to our objectives in the procurement, details of the
competing offers, and our rationale for selecting the SX-4.
Thank you for the opportunity to supply this information. If I
can be of further assistance, please let me know.
Sincerely,
Bill Buzbee, Director
Scientific Computing Division
National Center for Atmospheric Research
cc: R. Serafin, R. Anthes, C. Jacobs, J.
Fein
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NCAR Measurements of Single Processor
Performance
High-end Processors
(64-bit Results)
DEC 8400/EV5
HP PA-8000
IBM R6K/590
SGI R10K
SUN Ultra2
CRAY C90/1
NEC * SX-4/1
Date Measured
11/96
8/97
1/97
9/97
7/97
2/97
2/96
Clock (MHz)
440
180
77
196
250
240
109
Peak (mflops)
880
720
154
392
500
960
1744
Elementary Function (millions results per
second)
alog
4.5
4.9
1.2
4.4
2.6
12.7
34.6
exp
4.4
5.5
1.4
4.0
1.7
14.2
40.7
pwr
2.6
1.4
.41
2.7
.74
3.5
10.4
sin
3.7
2.6
1.5
4.0
1.2
8.1
39.5
sqrt
7.6
11.6
1.9
5.4
9.1
34.2
46.7
Computational Kernels (mflops)
radabs
90.8
112.5
20.4
115.1
64.6
447.0
865.9
shal64
123.2
208.3
80.3
160.7
100.7
510.0
shal256
54.5
87.6
73.6
46.1
51.3
633.2
Memory PerformanceMax measured over all
vector lengths tested (mb/s)
copy
99.6
180.5
419.4
66.5
151.0
3508.6
6809.0
ia
76.5
78.2
167.8
78.9
139.6
2516.8
1905.3
xpose
81.8
166.0
139.8
67.4
137.4
2140.0
3348.0
CCM2 Performance
(seconds/day)
471.9
537.5
1131.9
636.8
680.4
124.2
81.3
(mflops)
96.5
84.8
40.2
71.5
66.9
366.6
560.0
* Production models of the SX-4 are 15% faster
than the prototype used in this measurement.
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A Sampling of Computing Systems in
Major Atmospheric Modeling Centers Around the World
by
Bill Buzbee, Ph.D.
Director, NCAR Scientific Computing Division
November 25, 1997 (revised February 6, 1998)
I. Introduction
The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the
community it serves, currently enjoy world leadership in several
areas of atmospheric sciences research that depend on high
performance computing. In order to maintain this leadership, NCAR
must have computing capabilities that are comparable to peer
organizations throughout the world. The most powerful computer that
NCAR has today is the Cray C90/16 and NCAR will soon install a 128
processor Distributed Shared Memory (DSM) microprocessor system.
Neither of these systems will sustain more than 5 Gflops on a
single application. However, NCAR's peer centers in Australia,
Canada, England, and elsewhere, are installing systems that by
January '98 will sustain from 20–100 Gflops on a single
application. With these systems, they can, and they are, conducting
research that is far beyond the ability of their U.S.
counterparts.
Section one of this paper summarizes the computing capabilities
of a small number of forecast and climate modeling centers around
the world. Sections two and three discuss future plans at some of
these centers. Section four summarizes computing capability at a
small number of universities in Japan and Europe. Section five
discusses the impact on U.S. atmospheric science. Overall, this
paper shows that modelers outside of the U.S. have a substantial
computational advantage over their U.S. colleagues and are likely
to enjoy such for several years.
II. Systems Currently Installed
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Table 1 lists some of NCAR's peer organizations and their
associated computing systems that are capable of sustaining
20–100 Gigaflops on a single application.
Table 1: What's Happening Abroad?
Center
System
# of Processors
Capability Gflops
ECMWF
Fujitsu/VPP
116
80 – 100
Canada
NEC/SX-4
64
40 – 50
UK Met
Cray T3E
700
~ 35
France
Fujitsu/VPP
26
20
Denmark
NEC/SX4
16
12
US GFDL
Cray T90
26
15
Australia
NEC/SX-4
32
20 – 25
In 1995, the European Center for Medium Range Weather
Forecasting (ECMWF) selected the Fujitsu Vector Parallel
Processor (VPP) system via competitive procurement. As of August
1997, the system has 116 processors, each of which sustains about
0.75 Gflops, giving the possibility of sustaining 80–100
Gflops on a single application. ECMWF is using the VPP to run the
climate version of their forecast model (used in seasonal
forecasts) at T63L50 resolution [1]. In contrast, the NCAR
Community Climate Model, Version 3 (CCM3), is typically run at
T42L18. To move the UCAR CCM3 to a configuration similar to that
being used at ECMWF would require a machine that can sustain at
least 20 Gflops.
The Canadian Meteorological Center (CMC) has a 32
processor NEC SX-4. The CMC set a milestone recently by completing
a 24-hour forecast over North America at 10-km resolution in about
forty minutes of wallclock time [2]. CMC was able to do this
because the SX-4 sustains about 24 Gflops when executing the MC2
forecast model, thus CMC plans to reduce its operational forecast
grid size to 10–15 km [3]. By January of 1998, CMC will have
two SX-4/32s and by January of 2000 they will have four SX-4/32s
that can be clustered into a single 128 processor system via NEC's
fiber optic Internode Crossbar
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Switch [4] giving them an 80–100 Gflop capability. These
machines will also be used for climate modeling [3].
In the spring of 1996, the UK Meteorological Office (UK
Met) selected the Cray T3E with 696 processors but has not yet put
it into operational use. They plan to dedicate 144 processors to
the global operational forecast and 144 to the regional forecast.
The remaining 408 processors are to be used for research, including
climate modeling [5]. This equipment is also used by the Hadley
Centre.
Meteo-France has selected the Fujitsu VPP and currently
has a system with 26 processors capable of sustaining 20 Gflops on
a single model.
The Danish Meteorological Institute has two NEC SX-4s,
one with sixteen processors and one with four. The sixteen
processor system sustains approximately 12 Gflops. Twenty percent
of the wallclock time on this machine is used for forecasting, the
remaining eighty-percent and the four processor system are used for
research including climate modeling [6].
The most powerful system in the U.S. that is used for climate
modeling is a Cray T90 with twenty-six processors at the
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) in Princeton, New
Jersey. A single processor of the T90 sustains about 0.6 Gflops
when executing the NCAR CCM; thus the GFDL machine is capable of
approximately 15 Gflops.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has selected the NEC
SX-4 [7]. The current system has sixteen processors, but will be
upgraded to thirty-two processors in February 1998. A second SX-4
with twenty processors will be acquired in the third quarter of
1999. The two systems will be clustered via NEC's Internode
Crossbar Switch, thus giving a 30–40 Gflop capability.
III. Future Developments Abroad
By 1999, the next generation of Japanese vector systems will
probably be available with processors that may be more than twice
as fast as the current generation. If so, it will be possible to
sustain 80–100 Gflops with fewer than 50 processors and,
obviously, implementing and managing models over 30–50
processors is much easier than over
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hundreds of processors.
The Japanese Science and Technology Agency has established an
“Earth Simulator” project [8]. The project was launched
in April 1997 with funding of approximately $400 million over five
years. The project includes development of a high performance
parallel computer with a sustained performance of one or more
Teraflops by 2001. This system will be provided by either NEC or
Fujitsu. For example, if the next generation Fujitsu VPP has a
sustained performance of 2–3 Gflops per processor, then a few
hundred of these processors could sustain one or more
Teraflops.
IV. A Sample of Computing Systems in
Universities Abroad.
The National Science Foundation provides university scientists,
including atmospheric scientists, with access to high performance
computers. The most powerful computer supported by NSF is a 7.5
Gflop (twelve processor) Cray T90 located at San Diego. In
contrast, the University of Stuttgart, the Swiss Center for
Scientific Computing, and Osaka University have large SX-4s. The
University of Tokyo, Nagoya University, and Kyushu University all
have Fujitsu VPPs with at least forty processors. Thus, all of
these universities have systems that are capable of 20 Gflops or
more.
V. Impact on U.S. Atmospheric
Science
U.S. atmospheric science modelers currently enjoy global
leadership in several areas of research that depend on high
performance computers. To maintain that leadership, they need
computing capabilities that are comparable to their international
peers. For example, a 1-km regional forecast using 4DVAR with full
physics adjoint is feasible, but to use such in time critical (less
than one hour) forecasting will probably require a machine that can
sustain at least 50 Gflops [9]. Another example is a recently
developed NCAR global chemistry model (MOZART) - in order to
complete 100-year simulations of the climate within a reasonable
timeframe, this model needs a computer that can sustain 20 to 40
Gigaflops [10].
The situation is particularly acute in climate modeling and is
exemplified by the computational requirements of the NCAR Coupled
System Model (CSM). Now that the CSM project has successfully
completed a 350-year control run, there are two major studies that
it
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would like to undertake:
1. simulate the past 120 years of climate
under at least six scenarios and four sensitivity studies per
scenario and
2. simulate the next 200 years of climate
under at least three scenarios and four sensitivity studies per
scenario.
The total years to be simulated in 1) and 2) is 5280. At
present, the flagship computer of the NCAR Climate Simulation
Laboratory (CSL) is a Cray C90 that sustains 5 Gflops and that
serves nine USGCRP projects including the CSM. On average, the CSM
project can complete 100 years/month using the CSL C90. Thus, to
complete 1) and 2) would require more than four calendar years,
which is unacceptable relative to progress being made by our
international peers.
The CSM project also plans future improvements to the model such
as semi-Lagrangian dynamics, prediction of cloud water, and a
sulfate aerosol model. These improvements are expected to quadruple
the amount of computation required per simulated year. Thus, a 20
Gflop machine will be required to maintain the current average of
100 years/month.
For ease of reference, we denote 1) and 2) as Part A of the CSM
science plan. Similarly, we denote development and execution of the
next generation of CSM as Part B of the CSM science plan.
Now that the U.S. Department of Commerce has issued an
antidumping order against Japanese high performance computers, NCAR
plans to continue operating the CSL C90 in FY98-99 and to install a
128 microprocessor, Distributed Shared Memory (DSM) system in the
CSL in mid-FY98. Based on measured performance of two leading-edge
128 processor DSM systems executing the NCAR CCM (Community Climate
Model) and POM (Parallel Ocean Model), we estimate that 128
processor DSMs will sustain about 5.0 Gflops on the CSM by
mid-FY98. If so, then Part A of the CSM science plan can probably
be completed by end of FY99.
However, we believe that it will be FY99-00 before 256 processor
DSMs can approach 20 Gflops. Thus, the following are not
possible in the near term:
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• Part B of the CSM science
plan,
• a 1-km regional forecast with
4DVAR in less than one wallclock hour, and
• routine use of MOZART in climate
studies.
VI. Summary
Meteorological organizations outside the U.S. either have or
soon will have computing systems that can sustain 20–100
Gflops on climate simulations, high resolution forecasts, etc. With
these systems, they can and they are conducting research that is
far beyond the ability of their U.S. counterparts.
The bottom line - earth systems modelers outside the U.S. have a
substantial computational advantage over their U.S. colleagues and
are likely to enjoy such for several years.
1. James Hack, NCAR CGD Division, personal
communication, November 1997.
2. NEC SX-4'S REAL-TIME 24HR 10KM RES
FORECAST DETAILED, HPCwire, August 1, 1997.
3. CMC PLANS TO REDUCE FORECASTING GRID
SIZE WITH NEC SX-4, HPCWIRE, November 20, 1997.
4. CMC UPGRADES NEC SX-4 TO IMPROVE
FORECASTING, HPCWIRE, November 21, 1997.
5. Dr. Paul Cluey, UK Met, personal
communication, November 1997.
6. Dr. Leif Laursen, Danish Meteorological
Institute, “Technical Advances in Short Range Weather
Forecasting”, RCI European Member Management Symposium X,
Rome, Italy, October 1997.
7. AUSTRALIAN METEOROLOGISTS,
RESEARCHERS TO RECEIVE NEC SX-4, HPCwire, July 25, 1997.
8. Hisashi Nakamura, Director of Research
for Computational Earth
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Science, Research Organization for Information Science and
Technology, Tokyo, personal communication, November 1997.
9. Bill Kuo, NCAR MMM Division, personal
communication, November 1997.
10. Stacy Walters, NCAR ACD Division,
personal communication, November 1997.
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Comments from UCAR to the
International Trade Commission Hearing
August 27, 1997
By
Dr. Bill Buzbee
Director, NCAR Scientific Computing Division
Members of the Commission:
On behalf of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
(UCAR), thank you for this opportunity to present information on
the issue before you.
UCAR RFP B10-95P requested computers that could demonstrate
robust operation and high performance when executing UCAR
applications. Specifically, the RFP stated (pg. 2):
“1. The requested system will be a
production-level, high-performance computing system. Production
implies a high level of system availability and reliability, and
both a robust batch capability and robust software development
environment.
2. The primary objective … is high
performance in executing existing parallel multi-tasked and/or
message passing atmospheric models, ocean models, and/or full
Climate System models…”
Hereafter, we will refer to 1. as “UCAR's robust
operational requirement.”
The final Best and Final Offer (BAFO) from Cray Research was
received February 28, 1996. It detailed an ensemble of eight
computers spanning five different system models and both vector
and
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nonvector architectures. Only one of the eight systems could
be tested with respect to UCAR's robust operational requirement and
the performance measured on it was 5.4 billion arithmetic
operations per second (Gigaflops). The final array of
equipment, to be delivered in August '98, was estimated by Cray
Research to sustain 50.3 Gigaflops. The one system that was tested
would have been removed in August '98 and none of the August '98
systems could be tested. The inability to test any of the August
'98 systems presented unacceptable risk to UCAR.
In contrast, all of the equipment offered by the Federal
Computer Corporation (FCC) could be tested and it demonstrated both
robust operation and high performance. Simply put, Cray Research
lost this procurement because their BAFO had unacceptable technical
risk.
Background
UCAR is a nonprofit Colorado membership corporation engaged in
scientific and educational activities in the atmospheric and
related sciences. With a membership of 62 universities, UCAR
manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), under
contract for the National Science Foundation. A major component of
NCAR's mission is to provide state-of-the-art research tools and
facilities to the U.S. atmospheric sciences community. These
facilities include high performance computers.
NCAR has a long history of leadership in advancing technology
for understanding and predicting the Earth's system. This research
includes long-term development, documentation, and support of
numerical models that require high performance computers. Thus,
plans for acquiring and providing high performance computers are
coordinated with plans for research projects that need these
computers.
A New NCAR Climate Model
In 1995, NCAR scientists began development of a new climate
model that substantially advances the state-of-the-art in climate
modeling1 and this model requires
a very high performance computer.
1 “Model
Gets It Right - Without Fudge Factors,” AAAS Science, Vol.
276, 16 May 1997, pa. 1941.
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For example, if this model is run 24 hours per day on a computer
that can sustain 5 Gigaflops, approximately 16 calendar days are
required to simulate 100 years of climate. In the course of a
single scientific study, scientists routinely need to simulate
several climate scenarios and perform several sensitivity studies
for each scenario. Thus, a single scientific study may involve 20
or more 100-year simulations. By October '98, the successor to this
model will require a computer that can sustain approximately 25
Gigaflops in order to complete a single 100-year simulation within
approximately two weeks of calendar time. The computational
requirements for this and similar models were considered when the
RFP was developed.
The RFP
The RFP was open to computers of any architecture, e.g. vector,
nonvector, massively parallel, etc. The RFP included a benchmark
suite of computer programs that were designed to verify robust
operation and to measure performance. The benchmark suite was
provided to 14 supercomputer vendors for their critique prior to
the release of the RFP. This was done to assure UCAR that the
benchmark suite was objective and could be readily executed on a
variety of computer architectures.
In March '95, the RFP was formally released to the 14 vendors:
12 U.S. manufacturers and two foreign manufacturers. The RFP
included the option for vendors to bid on one or both of two
scenarios:
A three-year scenario
(a) funding commitment
- $13.25M
(b) performance expected
- 5 Gigaflops by mid '96
A five-year scenario
(a) funding commitment
- $35.25M
(b) performance expected
- 5 Gigaflops by mid '96
25 Gigaflops by Oct '97
50 Gigaflops by Oct '99
All vendors were given two opportunities to ask questions and
request clarifications to the RFP.
Four of the 14 vendors responded and three of those were within
the competitive range. UCAR required each vendor to perform a
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Live Test Demonstration (LTD) using the benchmark suite and the
first LTDs were performed in August and September '95.
In October '95, UCAR issued guidelines for preparing a BAFO. The
guidelines stated “…UCAR is prepared to accept a major
change in system architecture and programming environment
…” Also, UCAR required that each vendor perform a
second LTD and these LTDs were undertaken in February '96.
Performance Expectations in the BAFO
Guidelines.
In its guidelines for preparing the BAFO, UCAR suggested that
the vendors focus on the five-year scenario and UCAR refined its
expectations of performance for this scenario:
By October '96 -
(1) at least one system that could sustain 5 Gigaflops when
executing the NCAR community climate model from the benchmark
suite, and
(2) an aggregate capacity of at least 20 Gigaflops.
By October '98 -
(3) at least one system that could sustain approximately 25
Gigaflops when executing the NCAR community climate model as
specified in the BAFO guidelines, and
(4) an aggregate capacity of at least 45 Gigaflops.
Items 1) and 3) reflect the needs of the new NCAR Climate Model
discussed previously. Items 2) and 4) could be met by offering an
ensemble of systems. Item 1) was mandatory.
The BAFO from the Federal Computer
Corporation (FCC)
The FCC BAFO provided:
one SX-4/32 to be delivered shortly after signing of the
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contract;
a second SX-4/32 to be delivered October 1, 1997;
two additional SX-4/32s to be delivered October 1, 1998.
The February '96 LTD verified that the FCC BAFO met UCAR's
robust operational requirement. The LTD also demonstrated that FCC
met items 1), 2) and 4) of UCAR's performance expectations;
specifically,
• A single SX-4 executed the
benchmark for item 1) with a sustained performance of approximately
13 Gigaflops.
• With regard to item 2), the UCAR
LTD for the SX-4 was conducted on a prototype machine with a 9.2
nanosecond cycle time. The prototype SX-4 executed the benchmark
for item 2) with a sustained performance of 18 Gigaflops.
Production versions of the SX-4 operate with an 8.0 nanosecond
cycle time, so a production SX-4 will deliver 20.7 Gigaflops for
item 2).
• The prototype SX-4 sustained 17
Gigaflops when executing the benchmark for item 3). Production
versions of the SX-4 will deliver 19.5 Gigaflops. Further, the
prototype SX-4 sustained 24 Gigaflops when executing a benchmark
that is closely related to the benchmark for item 3).
• Since a production version of the
SX-4 is projected to sustain 20.7 Gigaflops for item 2), it follows
that the FCC BAFO meets item 4).
Overall, the NEC SX-4/32 is by far the fastest computer that
UCAR has ever evaluated.
The BAFO from Cray Research
After an amendment to its BAFO (see Ref. [1]), Cray Research
offered an ensemble of vector and non-vector equipment that
involved one system in May '96, two systems in September '96, and
five systems
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in August '98.2
Cray Research could only perform the LTD on the May '96 system
and this system demonstrated the ability to meet UCAR's robust
operational requirement. However, this system only met item 1) of
UCAR's performance expectations and the BAFO required removal of
this system in August '98.
Basis for Selection
Three factors weighed heavily in evaluating the FCC BAFO and the
Cray Research BAFO:
a) FCC demonstrated that all of its
equipment for the five-year scenario met UCAR's robust operational
requirement, and met items 1),2), and 4) of UCAR's performance
expectations.
b) Cray Research could demonstrate only
one machine - the May '96 system - that met UCAR's robust
operational requirement and its performance only met 1); this
system would have been removed in August '98 and none of the
systems to be installed in August '98 could be tested.3
2 For details,
see amended Attachment II to UCAR's response to the Purchaser's
Questionnaire, July 31, 1997.
3 Counsel for
Cray Research has noted that at the conclusion of the benchmark
test in February '96, NCAR personnel advised Cray Research that
“there were no showstoppers.” The context of that
remark is as follows:
a. The initial (November 30, 1996) BAFO from
Cray Research included a new nonvector system that was the
centerpiece of the offer and that was being designed. An elementary
analysis of the machine's specifications showed that it would not
meet the performance levels that Cray Research was projecting for
our applications. This was a “show stopper” for that
offer and we advised Cray Research of this. Cray Research verified
our analysis and amended their BAFO by replacing this machine with
other equipment.
b. The amended BAFO from Cray Research
contained their T90 as the flagship system for the first two years
of the proposal and the LTD was to be performed on it.
Approximately two weeks before the February '96 LTD, Cray Research
informed us that they could not perform the LTD on a T90 due to
fundamental problems with the T90 memory system. This was another
“showstopper” for the BAFO. Cray Research requested
that they be allowed to perform the LTD on the C90. We agreed.
(Footnote continued on next page)
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c) The May '96 system from Cray Research
accounted for only about 10% of the total computing capacity in the
BAFO.
Based on a) through c), UCAR concluded that FCC offered and
demonstrated overwhelmingly superior technical performance and low
risk relative to the Cray Research five-year offer. Thus, Cray
Research lost this procurement because their BAFO had unacceptable
technical risk - in particular, neither the September '96 nor any
of the August '98 systems could be tested. In fact - and as noted
in [2] - had FCC withdrawn from the competition, UCAR would have
selected the three-year offer from Cray Research due to the risks
of their five-year offer.4
If An Antidumping Order is Issued
UCAR and the community it serves currently enjoy world
leadership in several areas of atmospheric sciences research that
depend on high performance computing. In order to maintain this
leadership, UCAR must have computing capabilities that are
comparable to peer organizations throughout the world. The most
powerful computer that UCAR has today sustains 5 Gigaflops.
Meteorological centers in Australia, Canada, England, and elsewhere
are installing systems that by January '98 will sustain from
20–80 Gigaflops on a single application. This is four to
sixteen times as much computing capability as UCAR has at present.
Further, we estimate that those centers are acquiring this
capability at an annual cost that does not exceed the annual
expenditure that UCAR offered in this RFP.
If an antidumping order is issued, then UCAR has two
options:
1. Switch to highly parallel, nonvector systems. As
evident in the RFP, we have the option to switch to these systems.
Several U.S. manufacturers market parallel, nonvector systems. By
switching to this
(Footnote continued from previous page)
So with an amended BAFO and the last minute
change to perform the LTD on the C90, Cray Research finally made an
offer that did not have any “showstoppers.” The remark
did not mean that Cray Research had won the competition, rather it
meant they had qualified.
4 UCAR
estimates that today - eighteen months after their BAFO - about 80%
of the capacity offered by Cray Research is still not
demonstrable.
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technology - and the two are interchangeable - UCAR is assured a
competitive marketplace from which to procure equipment. We have
already noted that meteorological centers around the world are
rapidly increasing their computational capability and doing so
without an increase in cost. If an antidumping order is issued,
then UCAR believes that the parallel, nonvector marketplace is our
best hope for obtaining comparable amounts of computing per dollar.
However, some time will be required to acquire and convert to the
new systems.
2. Broaden our national and international collaborations to
include access to high performance computing systems. The U.S.
atmospheric sciences community routinely participates in national
and international research projects and collaborations. When
scientifically appropriate, these activities can occasionally
include access to leading edge, high performance computers
including computers in other countries. For technical reasons, this
option is not a desirable way to compute. Moreover, this approach
cannot be relied upon to meet UCAR's computing needs in a
systematic manner that serves all of its users.
Both of these options will impede UCAR's rate of scientific
progress while at the same time UCAR's international peers are
accelerating their rate of progress. This will have far reaching,
negative consequences. UCAR, plus the U.S. community it serves, may
forfeit their research leadership in advancing technology for
weather forecasting and climate modeling.
Summary
1. Cray Research lost this procurement
because of unacceptable technical risk in its BAFO.
2. An antidumping order will have
far-reaching, negative impact on U.S. leadership in atmospheric
science.
Bibliography
1. “Accommodations Made for the
Competitors,” Comments by the University Corporation for
Atmospheric Research on the Antidumping Petition of Cray Research,
Inc.,” dated August 16,
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1996 and addendum thereto dated August 23, 1996 (both documents
were made available to the ITC).
2. Letter from Frank Schuchat, Holme
Roberts & Owen LLP, to Valerie Newkirk, Office of
Investigations, U.S. ITC, dated September 18, 1996.