Intel, Microsoft Choose UC-Berkeley To Host $10M Parallel Computing Center

Intel, Microsoft Choose UC-Berkeley To Host $10M Parallel Computing Center
Wichita Business Journal - by East Bay Business Times

The University of California, Berkeley, is one of two universities that will partner with Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. in establishing computer centers focused on parallel computing.

Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) on Tuesday announced the establishment of two Universal Parallel Computing Research Centers, one at UC-Berkeley and the other at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Intel and Microsoft plan to invest a $20 million over five years in the two centers, with each receiving half. UC-Berkeley researchers have also applied for a UC Discovery Grant, a matching grant that uses state and university funding to encourage industry investment in research at the school.

The centers will work to accelerate consumer and business uses for parallel processing -- computing systems where many instructions are carried out at the same time, making it possible to take a large task and divide it into many smaller ones to be carried out simultaneously. Such systems are now used in high-performance, or super-, computing, where multiple processors are joined together in clusters.

"This is a once-in-a-career opportunity to recast the foundations of information technology and influence the entire IT industry for decades to come," David Patterson, UC-Berkeley professor of computer sciences and a pioneering expert in computer architecture, said in an announcement on the center. "We are excited and proud to be a part of this ambitious effort."

In its announcement, Cal offered such examples of possible future applications of the research as using a cell phone to recognize the face of a passing acquaintance.

Patterson is joined in the research by seven other faculty members from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences: Krste Asanovic, Ras Bodik, James Demmel, John Kubiatowicz, Kurt Keutzer, Koushik Sen and Katherine Yelick. Patterson, Demmel and Yelick also have joint appointments at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

UC-Berkeley's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences was selected from 25 leading computer science departments to host one of the two UPCRC sites.