The RFP is out for FastForward 2 Extreme Scale Technologies

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31582_logos300The DOE Office of Science and the National Nuclear Security Administration has issued a Request for Proposals to further develop “extreme scale” supercomputer technology. As part of the FastForward 2 program, the contracts up grabs will total about $100 million, and the funding period will be from July of this year to November 2016.

Many DOE applications place extreme requirements on computations, data movement, and reliability. FastForward 2 seeks to fund innovative new and/or accelerated R&D of technologies targeted for productization in the 2020–2023 timeframe.

Proposals from industry are being sought in two principal areas: node architecture and memory technology. The node architecture focus area broadens the previous FastForward focus on processors to include the entire architecture of a compute node. Both the node hardware and any necessary enabling software are in scope. For example, if novel runtime techniques or programming models are needed to make a new node architecture usable, research into these technologies could be included in a proposal. The memory technology area focuses on technologies that could be used in multiple vendors’ systems.

DOE and NNSA are using a “co-design” approach with vendors from industry working with scientists and engineers at DOE/NNSA national laboratories. FastForward, funded by DOE’s Office of Science and NNSA, is managed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on behalf of seven national laboratories including: Lawrence Berkeley, Los Alamos, Sandia, Oak Ridge, Argonne and Pacific Northwest. Technical experts from the participating national laboratories will evaluate and help select the proposals.

All proposals are due on or before May 9, 2014.