HPC Warfare: The Pentagon is augmenting its high-performance computing (HPC) capabilities by turning its supercomputers into a cloud service. After two years of prototyping, two commercial vendors will now turn their technology into a proper commercial venture.
The DoD’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), launched in 2015, has been described as the Pentagon’s “innovation experiment” to accelerate the adoption of commercial technology. The DIU partners with the High PerformanceComputing Modernization Program (HPCMP), which manages DoD’s supercomputing assets, to promote significant innovation regarding how the US military leverages its HPC machines.
The groups now want to turn US supercomputers into a cloud service that could be accessed remotely for scientific research and data analysis. Several commercial vendors joined the project through DIU’s Commercial Solutions Opening process in 2022. The Defense Department ultimately awarded two prototype contracts to build the new HPC-cloud capability.
The DIU chose Rescale and Parallel Works to do the work. The two companies have experience relocating supercomputing to the cloud. The vendors enhanced the HPCMP’s computing power without significantly increasing hardware costs and requirements.
The new cloud-based supercomputer will merge HPCMP’s supercomputing resource centers and multiple cloud service providers. The results should be a robust and secure network that Pentagon analysts and researchers can use for remote supercomputing, AI, and machine learning tasks. The network will act as a “single coherent ecosystem.”
The DIU explicitly states that the new cloud super-network will augment DoD researchers for their on-premise HPC resources, which isn’t currently possible. No one has yet discussed using a theoretical cloud supercomputer in active military operations. However, US combatants with enough tech skills would likely put this new resource to good use.
After successfully competing in the prototype phase, Rescale and Parallel Works will soon transition to production contracts with the HPCMP. According to DIU program manager Navy Lieutenant Commander Al Williams, combining DoD’s HPC assets with cloud-based services is a job better suited for the commercial sector.
Chief Technology Officer Benjamin Parsons with the HPCMP was also pleased with the final results of the Commercial Solutions Opening Initiative. He said the new capabilities under development by Rescale and Parallel Works are essential to meeting today’s needs of the scientific and research community within the DoD.
