The Computing, Information, and Communications R&D (CIC R&D) programs in FY 1997 encompass twelve Federal departments and agencies. The CIC R&D Subcommittee (formerly the High Performance Computing, Communications, and Information Technology (HPCCIT) Subcommittee) consists of representatives from each of the participating organizations. The CIC R&D Subcommittee reports to the Committee on Computing, Information, and Communications (CCIC). The CCIC is one of the nine National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Committees.
The National Coordination Office for Computing, Information, and Communications (CIC) R&D (formerly High Performance Computing and Communications) coordinates the activities of the twelve participating Federal departments and agencies through the CIC R&D Subcommittee of the CCIC. The NCO serves as a liaison to the U.S. Congress, state and local governments, international initiatives, industry, universities, and the public. The Director of the NCO reports jointly to the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Executive Office of the President, and to the Chair of the CCIC.
The agencies that participate in the CIC R&D programs work closely with other government agencies, academia, and industry in developing, supporting, and using the technologies developed through the programs. The NCO, the CIC R&D Subcommittee, and the participating agencies meet with representatives from the U.S. Congress, Federal, state and local organizations, industry, academia, professional societies, foreign governments, and others, to exchange information about technical and programmatic needs, issues, and trends.
The Program has a long history of successful government-industry interaction. In October 1995, for example, the NCO and the HPCCIT Subcommittee sponsored non-disclosure briefings for agency representatives by 12 high performance computing systems vendors. These vendors discussed hardware and software trends, R&D needs, standards, international issues, and the HPCC Program. Other examples include sponsorship of the PetaFLOPS Architecture Workshop, held April 22-25, 1996, in Oxnard, CA and the PetaSoft '96 Workshop, held June 1996 in Bodega Bay, CA. These workshops address technical approaches to meet future architecture and software needs of the most demanding applications.
The CIC R&D Subcommittee and its Executive Committee coordinate program planning, budgeting, implementation, and review. Monthly meetings include information exchanges, development of multi-organization programs, and the review of the plans and budgets of participating organizations. Over the past year, six Task Forces participated in a planning process that contributed to the development of the Program Component Areas (PCAs) (described on pages 32-33). The Subcommittee has established Working Groups, one for each PCA, that will succeed and expand upon the activities of the HPCCIT Working Groups.
The CIC R&D Subcommittee is responsible for Federal networking R&D. The CIC R&D program and the Federal Networking Council (FNC), which is chartered by NSF, work together to establish an effective interagency forum and long-term strategy to oversee the operation and evolution of the Federally funded portion of the Internet in support of science, research, and education. FNC members represent Federal agencies that need to operate and use increasingly advanced networking facilities, mainly for research and education, but also for administrative functions.
The CCIC has established an Applications Council to promote multi-agency leadership in the early application of advanced computing, information, and communications technologies, with special focus on projects that are widely applicable to Federal agency missions. Additionally, the Council will encourage pilot projects to assess technologies needed by these applications and will support the Administration's broad international goals to eliminate applications barriers. With member agencies throughout the Federal government, the Council provides a mechanism for those agencies to communicate with the organizations that participate in the CIC R&D programs. Council members provide user feedback and identify the research needed to enable their most demanding applications, while they are kept informed about the CIC R&D agenda, priorities, and results.
Federal and Federally chartered organizations, industrial and academic organizations, and professional societies provide critical analyses of the Program through conferences, workshops, and reports. These efforts strengthen program planning and management and help make program goals and accomplishments better understood.
As part of continuing internal program assessments during the past two years, the CIC R&D Subcommittee has conducted intensive evaluations of the changing role of information technology in Federal agency missions. This effort has led to the broader agenda with focused R&D programs that is now being coordinated by the Subcommittee and implemented across the participating Federal agencies and departments.
The Congress has requested that it be informed about certain funding of non-U.S. high performance computing and communications activities.
In FY 1996, DARPA is the only HPCC agency that has entered into a grant, contract, cooperative agreement, or cooperative research and development agreement, for HPCC with either (1) a company other than a company that is either incorporated or located in the U.S., and that has majority ownership by individuals who are citizens of the U.S., or (2) an educational institution or nonprofit institution located outside the United States. That activity is with University College, London, for approximately $120,000 per year. It is part of an effort developing the underlying technology to be used in pilot demonstrations of multi-country, multi-way, wide area multimedia services.
In FY 1996 no HPCC R&D procurement exceeds $1 million for unmanufactured articles, materials, or supplies mined or produced outside the U.S., or for manufactured articles, materials, or supplies other than those manufactured in the U.S. substantially all from articles, materials, or supplies mined, produced, or manufactured in the U.S.
The NCO provides electronic, print, and video materials to hundreds of media representatives in the U.S. and abroad and responds to thousands of requests for information from Congressional offices, industry, academia, and the public. The NCO has both Web and Gopher servers that contain the FY 1994, FY 1995, and FY 1996 annual reports, information about sources of funding for CIC R&D, links to the servers of participating agencies, and related information. In November 1995, users of over 16,000 computing systems from 70 countries accessed the Web server, and nearly 6,000 accessed the Gopher server.
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