The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, C-DAC, and the IISc have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) according to which C-DAC will install Param 10000 system at the IISc campus in Bangalore, with an access facility to the National PARAM Supercomputing Facility, (NPSF) at Pune to be provided later. This association between C-DAC and the IISc will help students and researchers of IISc in their software development projects on various science and engineering applications of national interest. C-DAC will also provide system software, software tools and training in operating PARAM 10000.

``This programme will develop greater synergy between C-DAC's efforts of building application software and those of premier educational and research centres like IISc, to address mission critical applications,'' said S K Arora, Executive Director, C-DAC.

This MoU is a result of the Department of Electronics, Government of India's decision to provide 12 PARAM 10000 supercomputers to select institutions, including six Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and select regional engineering colleges. As part of its effort to generate experienced manpower in cutting-edge technology to work for industry and national institutions in the next millennium, C-DAC has already installed the PARAM-based technology at the Amrita Institute of Technology, Coimbatore.

``C-DAC's earlier association with the IISc will be strengthened by the DoE initiative, which as the Secretary of the DoE says, is an investment toward nation building,'' said R K Arora. Prof N Chandrashekaran, Director, C-DAC, said he hopes for a long-lasting partnership with the IISc. C-DAC has been developing various computer intensive applications using its PARAM 10000 series of computers in weather forecasting, seismic data processing, applications related to space, physics, chemistry, biotechnology, business, and telecom and electronic governance.