YORKTOWN HEIGHTS, N.Y - 24 May 1999: . . .IBM today announced the formation of the Deep Computing Institute, a $29-million research initiative that will bring together experts in academia and industry to address some of the world's most challenging business and scientific problems.
"Deep computing'' refers to supercomputer-scale processing initiatives that combine massive computation and very sophisticated software algorithms to attack problems previously beyond the reach of information technology. Deep computing techniques include optimization, simulation, visualization, as well as advanced pattern matching and discovery.
Along with pervasive computing, IBM considers deep computing to be one of the two primary technology trends driving the next stage of e-business.
Corporations, Academics and Government Labs to Participate
The Deep Computing Institute will be guided by an advisory board of leaders from universities, government laboratories and corporations. IBM is committing more than 120 scientists and technologists in research labs in New York, San Jose, Austin, Tokyo, Zurich, Haifa, Beijing and New Delhi in collaborative efforts that will address an initial slate of deep computing projects in areas ranging from how to schedule personnel in complex environments, such as airline scheduling, to modeling precise weather patterns.
William R. Pulleyblank, Ph.D., director of Mathematical Sciences at IBM Research, will serve as director of the Institute.
"Deep computing combines the best of business and scientific computing techniques to find the value buried in all this data and to apply that information to solve real-world problems,'' said Pulleyblank. "Thanks to the tremendous advances in computing power and mathematical algorithms, it's now possible to tackle problems of unbelievable complexity -- things we couldn't dream of doing even a few years ago.
"Furthermore, e-business is creating new opportunities for companies turn massive quantities of data into competitive intelligence and knowledge,'' Pulleyblank continued. "That's where deep computing comes in -- while supercomputers historically have been focused primarily on scientific computing, the majority of the world's 500 largest supercomputer sites today are housed in commercial locations.''
Institute Releases Visualization Open Source Code
In addition to specific research projects, the Institute will launch a series of efforts designed to stimulate discussion, experimentation and development in the field of deep computing. As part of that initiative, the Institute will release through open-source availability the IBM Visualization Data Explorer, a powerful software package that can be used to analyze and create 3D representations of data.
Among other activities the Institute has planned are the release of additional software tools and problem libraries, sponsorship of conferences and symposia, and the establishment of Deep Computing Servers that will provide problem-solving resources via the Internet.
Deep Blue Legacy
The term "deep computing'' was inspired by IBM's Deep Blue chess-playing computer, which defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1996. The chess project marked a breakthrough in the development of computing technology -- when mathematical algorithms, programming expertise, and computing power were combined for the first time to solve the extremely complex problem of playing chess at the grand master level.
"IBM is extending the knowledge gained from the Deep Blue project to this new domain of deep computing,'' said Pulleyblank. ``Deep computing techniques can help find the proverbial needle in an entire field of haystacks, analyzing vast reservoirs of data to uncover key relationships between gene sequences needed to understand disease or identify critical risk in an unexpected area of a bank's portfolio.''
Members of the Institute Advisory Board include:
- Dr. Sidney Karin -- Director, National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (NPACI ); Director, San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), University of California
- Dr. Ken Kennedy -- Director, Center for Research on Parallel Computation, Rice University
- Professor Thomas L. Magnanti -- Dean, School of Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Dr. Robert Mark -- Executive Vice President, Corporate Treasury and Risk Management, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
- Dr. Jorge More' -- Sr. Computer Scientist, Mathematics and Computer Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory
- Dr. Manuel C. Peitsch -- Director, Scientific Computing, World-wide, Head of GlaxoWellcome Experimental Research S.A.: GlaxoWellcome Research and Development
- Chris Sander, Chief Information Science Officer, Millennium Predictive Medicine, Inc., and Visiting Professor, MIT Center for Genome Research
- Gary Smaby -- CEO and Principal Analyst, Smaby Group, Inc.
- Vivian M. Stephenson, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Office, Dayton Hudson Corporation
- Rick Stevens -- Division Director, Mathematics and Computer Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory and Professor, Computer Science Department, University of Chicago
- Colin White -- Founder, DataBase Associates International, Inc.
- Dr. John C. Wooley -- Deputy Associate Director, Health and Environmental Research, Office of Biological and Environmental Research
The Deep Computing Institute Web site is at http://www.research.ibm.com/dci. The Institute is headquartered at IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center in Westchester County, N.Y.
# # #
Contact(s) information
Charles Jenkins
IBM
914-945-3499
cejj@us.ibm.com
| Topics | XML feeds |
|---|---|
| Research Chemistry, computer science, electrical engineering, materials and mathematical sciences, physics and services sciences, management & engineering |