Computational Infrastructure: Toward the 21st Century

L. Smarr, CACM 40(11): 28-32 (1997).

Abstract

During the past 10 years, the U.S.’s computational infrastructure has been transformed from isolated computational centers of excellence to a fully distributed web of computer-mediated knowledge. The National Science Foundation Supercomputing Centers Centers have been at the forefront of this transformation by constructing the first NSFnet backbone network, turning printouts into scientific visualizations, and developing new community software – from Telnet in the 1980s to Mosaic in the 1990s. In 1985, when the NSF Supercomputing Centers were opened, cyberspace was a wasteland; by 1995 it had become an urban sprawl. Frontier Centers were appropriate in 1985; virtual distributed partnerships were in the correct format 10 years later.

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