As an Indian, I am very proud of Eka

S Ramakrishnan, director general, C-DAC

Param, the first Indian supercomputer, was developed by the Center for

Developed and Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in the last decade, putting India into

the selected club of nations with these high-end machines. A lot has changed

since the days when C-DAC used to be the premier R&D company of India. Today,

the Tata group has recently talked of developing the worlds fourth fastest

supercomputer, Eka. In these times of consumerism and capitalism, what is the

real relevance of C-DAC? Ramakrishnan, director general, C-DAC, talks on these

issues and more in a tte--tte with Dataquest. Excerpts:

It has been two decades since C-DAC came into being, what would you rate

as the highpoints in this journey?



In the past two decades, the history of C-DAC has mirrored that of our

nation. India, as a nation, has taken immense strides over the past two decades

and so has C-DAC. We had started of in 1988 as a Scientific Society of the

department of Information Technology (formerly, department of Electronics). The

idea to set up C-DAC was primarily to aid in design, development, and deployment

of advanced IT-based solutions. Thus, C-DAC was meant to be a cutting-edge R&D

institute that worked on different technologies. There were a few areas that we

were very focused on from the starthigh powered computing (HPC) or super

computing and language computing. We have also invested in numerous hardware

groups like, control systems, power electronics, broadband and electronics,

cyber security and forensics, and open source. Even then, I am very excited

about the prospects of C-DAC in the coming years. We are into a mission mode and

are making big strides in all the domains that we have been active, be it launch

of software products or super computing.

Different organizations like National Center for Software Technology,

Center for Electronic Design and Technology, and units of erstwhile Electronics

Research and Development have been merged into C-DAC. How have you been

coping with that?



To be honest, it was a tough journey and it is quite obvious why. Bringing all
these disparate and diverse organizations and ensure that a single philosophy

runs through all is a big challenge. But I am very glad to say that the work has

been and we have been able to synergize based on the different strengths that

have been brought to fore by all the varying entities. With that behind us, we

are working toward the future, setting goals and objectives and discussing the

path that we will take.

CDAC has been upstaged by CRL in the race for supercomputing; they have

recently announced the invention of Eka, the fourth fastest supercomputer in the

world. What is your take on it?

As an Indian, I am very proud of Eka and I truly welcome the Tata initiative.

The difference between the Tatas and us is mainly that of the resources. They as

a group have been able to set aside a large amount of resources and hence, have

been able to develop the supercomputer in such a short period. But, beyond the

teraflops and the petaflops, what really matters is the business case and RoI.

The Indian Institute of Sciences, C-DAC, CRL, are all into supercomputing and

cater to different audiences. India needs supercomputing and every step in that

direction is most welcome.

What are the reasons for choosing Pune?



The reasons are not really hard to come by. Pune, in the last few years,

have emerged as an automobile and engineering hub. Thanks to the numerous

engineering colleges in and around there is an abundance of skilled talent that

is hard to find in any other city. But, not only that, Pune attracts

academicians and scientists from across India. So, there is hardly any other

place in India that matches Pune.

Shashwat DC



shashwatc@cybermedia.co.in