If someone suggests that a Jordanian university could own one of the world’s fastest supercomputers in the world, he would probably be met with dismissive laughs. Maybe the laughs can be excused when it is pointed out that the price tag for a ‘typical’ super computer can run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. Take Japan’s Earth Simulator, the world’s fastest supercomputer: it’s price tag was 350 million US dollars.

Who could ask a Jordanian university or research institution, or even all Jordanian universities combined to pay such an amount?

Jordanian students, it seems, will have to contend themselves with learning a few programming languages and bit of database programming. Is this how Jordan will create an knowledge-based, IT-driven society and economy? Just becoming users of other people’s IT tools and consumers of their knowledge is not enough. Producing our own, original knowledge and our own innovative tools is probably the only way to internalize the IT revolution.

A super computer at a Jordanian university would be a really cool tool. And before we laugh at the idea, we’d better understand the story of the supercomputer at Virginia Tech university in the USA. For a mere 5.2 million US dollars, this university’s Engineering Department was able to build a supercomputer that turned out world’s third fastest! Not only is this an unbelievably fast yet cheap machine, but it also was built from “off-the-shelf” components. The team behind the project led by Dr Srindhi Varadarajan, decided to build their supercomputer out of 1100 Macintosh G5 computers interconnect into what is called a ‘cluster’. The whole thing was up and running in three weeks.

Now here’s a challenge to our universities: would you dare build such a machine? Imagine the research benefits to students and faculty of Jordan’s engineering, science and computer colleges and imagine the symbolic value of such an endeavour.

It is Ironic that behind Virginia Tech’s supercomputer there’s and Indian PhD holder and a Dean of Engineering who’s of Arab Egyptian origin, Prof. Hassan Aref. It’s to universities like that our best minds migrate, when all we can offer them is to become mere implementers of technology instead of inventors and innovators of exciting new tools and knowledge.

The sad story of Arab R&D has been fully explored in the UNDP’s 2nd Arab Human Development Report. The miniscule budgets of R&D in the Arab world go towards administrative salaries and buildings. Maybe it’s time to remind ourselves that “The empires of the future are empires of the mind,” as Winston Churchill said.

Check out this link for full information on Virginia Tech’s supercomputer.


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2 responses to “Jordanian Universities: Can you build a supercomputer?”

  1. Ammar Ibrahim Avatar
    Ammar Ibrahim

    Thanks for the interesting article.
    i’m an IT student in Jordan university. I can’t find a reason why this shouldn’t be implemented and taken seriously in Jordan. I feel that this is very applicable, but what could be better is that i think theres a way to cut on the price by using Linux(open source software). NASA also uses a huge cluster of inexpensive machines using a clustering methoed called Beowulf.

    The biggest problem would be people incharge, if till now we don’t have a web based registration system, so a super computer would be a second priority. I have a question… why don’t we have a web based registration system? there are many bright students in the university who work on cutting edge technologies in some enterprises in Jordan. Hence, if we collaborate efforts, we are able to come with a very sophisticated system, but will anyone listen?

  2. Rami Avatar
    Rami

    I think its a great idea, honestly not so much because of the supercomputer idea but the fact that the Arab world needs real R&D even if a lot of it is to duplicate work that has already been done. Newton didn’t come up with his first theories without looking at a lot of work of others. it is a step by step process.

    The opportunity is there, in Doha and Dubai they are building research centers for medicine and other fields but they need to make sure its not just a show case. We need real results, real regular people working hard and making progress.