Supercomputing Comes to the Rust Belt

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Beyond the Mask

"This is about the democratization of high-performance computing," says Stanley Ahalt, the OSC's executive director. "These companies should be armed with tools that allow them to work in a knowledge economy. They're doing something more valuable than just bending metal."

All sorts of industrial processes can benefit from supercomputing. Take welding, the specialty of Edison Welding Institute (EWI) in Columbus, Ohio, a Blue Collar Computing participant. Welding has become a high-tech activity. Because specialty metals are now so expensive, companies increasingly build machines and conduits out of multiple components.

That requires a lot of joining of different types of materials. And that, in turn, requires companies to optimize their welds. The traditional way to do this was by building prototypes and testing actual welds. But that's very expensive, so these days, companies prefer to use simulations to try out weld designs.

That's where supercomputers come in. By using them, companies can test a design in a couple of minutes, make changes, and then test it again. "We've gone way beyond a guy with a mask and a torch and sparks flying," says Henry Cialone, chief executive officer of EWI.

The nonprofit organization, with 250 members, is setting up a Web portal where EWI members will be able to place orders for computer time and set up their simulations. The portal is expected to be launched in May.

Big Blue Powerhouse

Private companies are reaching out to small manufacturers as well. Exa Corp., a Burlington (Mass.) company, has hooked up with IBM (IBM) to provide clients with supercomputing on demand. Exa supplies the software and expertise in running fluid dynamics simulations for the transportation industry, including for small truck and equipment makers. IBM provides the supercomputing power for less than $1 per microprocessor per hour.

"This is a much better solution for small companies," says Steve Remondi, Exa's chief executive. "If these guys try to do this themselves, they have to buy the machine and the software, and they wouldn't use it every day."

Over the past decade, IBM has come to dominate the world of high-performance computing. It signaled its seriousness in 1996, when its Deep Blue machine beat Garry Kasparov, then the world's greatest chess player. Now, of the 100 top supercomputers operating in the world, Big Blue built more than half of them. It's counting on its on-demand supercomputing business to reach thousands of potential customers who wouldn't have been able to afford supercomputing before. Rust Belt, here they come.

Hamm is a senior writer for BusinessWeek in New York.