Maintaining global leadership in supercomputer development is a U.S. national priority. The driving force has been the National Nuclear Security Agency’s Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program. ASC unites the resources of three national laboratories (Livermore, Los Alamos and Sandia) with computer manufacturers and university researchers. Their goal is to develop and deploy advanced capabilities that can simulate nuclear weapons tests to ensure the safety and reliability of the nation’s nuclear stockpile without underground testing. While the various labs and programs all had individual plans, the lack of a single overarching plan resulted in overlap and gaps.
We guided a task force of ASC program leaders from the three labs in developing a high-level strategic plan. This began with creating a robust planning framework that could accommodate such a dynamic and complex program. The project required integrating multiple planning documents with related technology blueprints. Most importantly, it required solidifying process interactions among the multiple supercomputing stakeholders.
This project's strategic planning framework has guided continuing supercomputer breakthroughs. The latest systems operate at trillions of operations per second with power equivalent to 25,000 high performance PC’s linked together! These supercomputers are also being used for medical simulations, genetic computing, aerospace design, global climate modeling, financial system modeling, and other sophisticated scientific applications.Thanks to ASC, the United States remains the world leader in this critical technology.