Canada slipping in Top 500 ranking of world's most powerful computing systems

As advanced research computing permeates the majority of scientific disciplines, the ability of Canada's researchers to compete with the best is being hampered by its ranking among the world's top supercomputing nations. The latest data on the Top500 ranking — produced bi-annually based on verified site and vendor submissions (www.top500.org) — show that Canada is nowhere near the top echelon of ARC nations.

Canada has only six non-distributed computer systems in the Top500. The Univ of Toronto's Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform (SOSCIP) is the top-ranked Canadian system at #122 (see chart). Just three years ago, SOSCIP and SciNet were ranked #68 and #94 respectively and Canada placed 11 systems within the Top500.

The deterioration of Canadian ARC capacity was partially addressed by a $30-million award by the Canada Foundation for Innovation. But that funding was used to replace equipment nearing obsolescence. Many calls have been made since then for urgently required funding to prevent Canadian researchers from moving to jurisdictions where their research computing needs can be met (R$, December 21/15).

A proposal is now being developed for the next CFI funding competition.

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