[Asis-l] NYT June 2

[Garfield, Eugene]

SAN FRANCISCO, June 1 - For almost two decades the federal government has
heavily underwritten elaborate centers to house the world's fastest
supercomputers. The policy has been based on the assumption that only
government money could ensure that the nation's research scientists had the
computing power they needed to pursue projects like simulating the flow of
air around a jet airplane wing, mimicking the way proteins are folded
inside cells or modeling the global climate.

But now two leading American computer researchers are challenging that
policy. They argue that federal money would be better spent directly on the
scientific research teams that are the largest users of supercomputers, by
shifting the financing to vast data-storage systems instead of building
ultrafast computers.

Innovation in data-storage technology is now significantly outpacing
progress in computer processing power, they say, heralding a new era where
vast pools of digital data are becoming the most crucial element in
scientific research.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/02/technology/02SUPE.html>