martillo@cpoint.UUCP (Joachim Carlo Santos Martillo) (06/29/89)
In article <2361@ccnysci.UUCP> patth@ccnysci.UUCP (Patt Haring) writes: >Ported to USENET from UNITEX NETWORK via > UNITEX BBS: 201-795-0733 >SOUTH AFRICA: Apartheid System Gets Supercomputer Technology >Johannesburg, June 21, 1989 (AIA) -- As technology transfer >continues unscathed by sanctions and disinvestment, South >Africa's computer industry has started to gain access to a >generation of "supercomputers" using British and USA >products. . . . >The new computer system is based on "parallel processing >technology". Computer scientists in Europe and North America >have been experimenting with the concept. Scientific >exchanges with South Africans have made the local advance >possible. I can't think of a better way to misdirect South African research and cause the South Africans to waste money. No one has solved the problem of automatic parallelization and distribution of code between multiple processors. Meanwhile, uniprocessor keep getting faster and more powerful. Rather than building this ridiculous multiprocessor systems, they should be putting money into researching the parallelization problem which can be researched just as well on a network of loosely coupled PCs (although actual distribution of the program might change because of different network latency). . . . >The MCC gives the apartheid military and economic system a >technology that will upgrade existing systems to >supercomputer standards. And which will perform miserably by anybody's standards. . . . >EBE spokesmen are blunt about the project, saying the >parallel computing technology will make South Africa "less >vulnerable to sanctions". They should take a look and see what happened to all the minisuper computer firms. Maybe Apartheid will go the same way as Cydrome (a minisupercomputer firm heavily backed by Prime Computer, a firm whose top management clearly understands high-tech trends and developments). . . . . >Two machines have been delivered to the universities of >Stellenbosch (outside Cape Town) and Witwatersrand >(Johannesburg). The computers are set for use by researchers >working in mechanical engineering, computational chemistry >and geophysics. >In order to give the export licence, US Department of >Commerce officials had to be satisfied that the technology >transfer would not have military applications. Which in fact may be true -- at least any sane designer would try to avoid incorporating such technology into military equipment. >However, at Stellenbosch alone the Bureau for Mechanical >Engineering is financed by private industry. Aeronautical >research is a speciality at the Bureau. There are suspicions >that the computer could be used in schemes related to the >development of a new fighter-bomber aircraft by arms >companies serving the South African Air Force (SAAF). . . . >Computer industry officials speaking at the 1989 South Africa >Computer Faire say companies are developing "niche markets" >locally and abroad. South Africa is seen as specialising in >two areas: software application and computerised armaments. Access to tightly coupled multiprocessor supercomputers is irrelevant to developing expertise in these areas. In general it probably would not be a bad idea to make more of this technology available (at astronomical prices of course) to people and countries which the US dislikes.