Supercomputing in India

Supercomputing in India has a history going back to the 1980s. The Government of India created an indigenous development programme as they had difficulty purchasing foreign supercomputers. {{as of|November 2024}}, the AIRAWAT supercomputer is the fastest supercomputer in India, having been ranked 136th fastest in the world in the TOP500 supercomputer list.{{Cite web

| title = TOP500 List - November 2024 (Page 2)

| url = https://www.top500.org/lists/top500/list/2024/11/?page=2

| website = TOP500

| access-date = 2024-11-29

| quote = This page includes the ranks and details of the systems listed in positions 101-200}} AIRAWAT has been installed at the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in Pune.

History

=Early years=

India had faced difficulties in the 1980s when trying to purchase supercomputers for academic and weather forecasting purposes. In 1986 the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) started the Flosolver project to develop a computer for computational fluid dynamics and aerospace engineering. The Flosolver MK1, described as a parallel processing system, started operations in December 1986.

=Indigenous development programme=

In 1987, the Indian government had requested to purchase a Cray X-MP supercomputer; this request was denied by the United States government as the machine could have a dual use in weapons development. After this problem, in the same year, the Government of India decided to promote an indigenous supercomputer development programme. Multiple projects were commissioned from different groups including the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), and the Advanced Numerical Research and Analysis Group (ANURAG). C-DOT created "CHIPPS": the C-DOT High-Performance Parallel Processing System. NAL had started to develop the Flosolver in 1986. BARC created the Anupam series of supercomputers. ANURAG created the PACE series of supercomputers.

=C-DAC First Mission=

The C-DAC was created at some point between November 1987 and August 1988. C-DAC was given an initial 3 year budget of Rs 375 million to create a 1000MFLOPS (1GFLOPS) supercomputer by 1991. C-DAC unveiled the PARAM 8000 supercomputer in 1991. This was followed by the PARAM 8600 in 1992/1993. These machines demonstrated Indian technological prowess to the world and led to export success. Param 8000 was replicated and installed at ICAD Moscow in 1991 with Russian collaboration.

=C-DAC Second Mission=

The PARAM 8000 was considered a success for C-DAC in delivering a gigaFLOPS range parallel computer. From 1992 C-DAC undertook its "Second Mission" to deliver a 100 GFLOPS range computer by 1997/1998. The plan was to allow the computer to scale to 1 teraFLOPS. In 1993 the PARAM 9000 series of supercomputers was released, which had a peak computing power of 5 GFLOPS. In 1998 the PARAM 10000 was released; this had a sustained performance of 38 GFLOPS on the LINPACK benchmark.

=C-DAC Third Mission=

The C-DAC's third mission was to develop a teraFLOPS range computer. The PARAM Padma was delivered in December 2002. This was the first Indian supercomputer to feature on a list of the world's fastest supercomputers, in June 2003.

=Development by other groups in the early 2000s=

By the early 2000s it was noted that only ANURAG, BARC, C-DAC and NAL were continuing development of their supercomputers. NAL's Flosolver had 4 subsequent machines built in its series. At the same time ANURAG continued to develop PACE, primarily based on SPARC processors.

=12th Five Year Plan=

The Indian Government has proposed to commit US$2.5 billion to supercomputing research during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2012–2017). The project will be handled by Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore.{{cite news|url=http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2012-01-04/india_aims_to_double_r_d_spending_for_science.html|newspaper=HPC Wire|title=India Aims to Double R&D Spending for Science|date=4 January 2012|accessdate=29 January 2012}} Additionally, it was later revealed that India plans to develop a supercomputer with processing power in the exaflops range.{{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20130809030209/http://indiadaily.indiavoice.info/technology/supercomputers-in-india-20130717444/ C-DAC and Supercomputers in India]}} {{Archive url|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130816052829/http://indiadaily.indiavoice.info/technology/supercomputers-in-india-20130717444/|date=2013-08-16}} It will be developed by C-DAC within the subsequent five years of approval.{{cite news|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/hardware/India-plans-61-times-faster-supercomputer-by-2017/articleshow/16432125.cms|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130128153146/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-09-17/hardware/33901529_1_first-supercomputers-petaflop-fastest-supercomputer|url-status=live|archive-date=28 January 2013|title=India plans 61 times faster supercomputer by 2017|date=27 September 2012|newspaper=The Times of India|access-date=9 October 2012}}

=National Supercomputing Mission=

{{Infobox government agency

| name = National Supercomputing Mission

| type = Supercomputing

| logo = National Supercomputing Mission logo.jpg

| formed = 2015

| parent_department = C-DAC

| website = https://nsmindia.in/

}}

In 2015 the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology announced a "National Supercomputing Mission" (NSM) to install 73 indigenous supercomputers throughout the country by 2022. This is a seven-year program worth $730 million (Rs. 4,500 crore).{{Cite web

| title = Current Connect - November 2020

| url = https://www.ksgindia.in/current-connect/2020/November%202020.pdf

| website = KSG India

| access-date = 2024-11-29}} Whilst previously computer were assembled in India, the NSM aims to produce the components within the country. The NSM is being implemented by C-DAC and the Indian Institute of Science.

The aim is to create a cluster of geographically distributed high-performance computing centers linked over a high-speed network, connecting various academic and research institutions across India. This has been dubbed the "National Knowledge Network" (NKN).{{cite news |last1=Gill |first1=Prabhjote |title=Made in India supercomputers likely by the end of the year, says National Supercomputing Mission |url=https://www.businessinsider.in/science/news/made-in-india-supercomputers-likely-by-the-end-of-the-year-says-national-supercomputing-mission/articleshow/78824508.cms |accessdate=25 October 2020 |work=Business Insider |date=23 October 2020}} The mission involves both capacity and capability machines and includes standing up three petascale supercomputers.{{cite news | title= India Greenlights $730 Million Supercomputing Grid|url=http://www.hpcwire.com/2015/03/26/india-greenlights-730-million-supercomputing-grid/| agency= HPC Wire| date=26 March 2015 }}{{cite news | title= Govt to install 73 supercomputers across the country|url=http://zeenews.india.com/news/net-news/govt-to-install-73-supercomputers-across-the-country-ravi-shankar-prasad_1567702.html| publisher= Zee News| date=25 March 2015 }}

The first phase involved deployment of supercomputers which have 60% Indian components. The second phase machines are intended to have an Indian designed processor, with a completion date of April 2021. The third and final phase intends to deploy fully indigenous supercomputers, with an aimed speed of 45 petaFLOPS within the NKN.

By October 2020, the first assembled in India supercomputer had been installed. The NSM hopes to have the manufacturing capability for indigenous production by December 2020.

A total of 24.83 petaFLOPS of High Performance Computing (HPC) machines were put into service between 2019 and 2023. In addition to 5,930 specialists from more than 100 institutes using the newly constructed facilities, 1.75 lakh (175,000) people received training in HPCs. A total of 73.25 lakh (7.325 million) computational high performance queries were run. Seven systems with processing power greater than one petaFLOPS, eight systems with computational capacities between 500 teraFLOPS and 1 petaFLOPS, and thirteen systems with capacities between 50 teraFLOPS and 500 teraFLOPS were installed during this time.{{Cite web |last=Marar |first=Anjali |date=2024-10-02 |title=Explained: the significance of India's mission to develop supercomputers |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-sci-tech/india-mission-supercomputers-9600292/ |access-date=2024-10-03 |website=The Indian Express |language=en}}

Rankings

=Current TOP500=

{{As of |2024 |Nov}} there are 6 systems based in India on the TOP500 supercomputer list.{{Cite web

| title = TOP500 Regional/Country Wise List

| url = https://www.top500.org/statistics/list/

| website = TOP500

| access-date = 2024-12-01

}}

Rank	Site	Name	Rmax (PFlop/s)	Rpeak (PFlop/s)
class="wikitable sortable"
136	Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC)	AIRAWAT – PSAI	8.50	13.17
188	Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology	Arka	5.94	7.40
189	National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting	Arunika	5.94	7.40
268	Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology	Pratyush (Cray XC40)	3.76	4.01
400	Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology	Arka AI/ML	2.70	3.75
431	National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting	Mihir (Cray XC40)	2.57	2.81

= India's historical rank in TOP500 =

class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" \|+ Rank of Indian supercomputers in TOP500 list{{cite web \| url=https://www.top500.org/statistics/details/country/IN \| title=TOP500 List, Country – India \| accessdate=23 June 2020}}
List !Number of systems in TOP500 !System Share (%) !Total Rmax (Gflops) !Total Rpeak (Gflops) !Cores
2020 June \| 2 \| 0.4 \| 6,334,340 \| 6,814,886 \| 202,824
2019 November \| 2 \| 0.4 \| 6,334,340 \| 6,814,886 \| 202,824
2019 June \| 3 \| 0.6 \| 7,457,490 \| 8,228,006 \| 241,224
2018 November \| 4 \| 0.8 \| 8,358,996 \| 9,472,166 \| 272,328
2018 June \| 5 \| 1 \| 9,078,216 \| 10,262,899 \| 310,344
2017 November \| 4 \| 0.8 \| 2,794,753 \| 3,759,153 \| 107,544
2017 June \| 4 \| 0.8 \| 2,703,926 \| 3,935,693 \| 103,116
2016 November \| 5 \| 1 \| 3,092,368 \| 4,456,051 \| 133,172
2016 June \| 9 \| 1.8 \| 4,406,352 \| 5,901,043 \| 204,052
2015 November \| 11 \| 2.2 \| 4,933,698 \| 6,662,387 \| 236,692
2015 June \| 11 \| 2.2 \| 4,597,998 \| 5,887,007 \| 226,652
2014 November \| 9 \| 1.8 \| 3,137,692 \| 3,912,187 \| 184,124
2014 June \| 9 \| 1.8 \| 2,898,745 \| 3,521,915 \| 169,324
2013 November \| 12 \| 2.4 \| 3,040,297 \| 3,812,719 \| 188,252
2013 June \| 11 \| 2.2 \| 2,690,461 \| 3,517,536 \| 173,580
2012 November \| 9 \| 1.8 \| 1,291,739 \| 1,890,914 \| 90,548
2012 June \| 5 \| 1 \| 787,652 \| 1,242,746 \| 56,460
2011 November \| 2 \| 0.4 \| 187,910 \| 242,995 \| 18,128
2011 June \| 2 \| 0.4 \| 187,910 \| 242,995 \| 18,128
2010 November \| 4 \| 0.8 \| 257,243 \| 333,005 \| 25,808
2010 June \| 5 \| 1 \| 283,380 \| 384,593 \| 30,104
2009 November \| 3 \| 0.6 \| 199,257 \| 279,702 \| 23,416
2009 June \| 6 \| 1.2 \| 247,285 \| 333,519 \| 33,456
2008 November \| 8 \| 1.6 \| 259,394 \| 368,501 \| 37,488
2008 June \| 6 \| 1.2 \| 189,854 \| 275,617 \| 32,432
2007 November \| 9 \| 1.8 \| 194,524 \| 303,651 \| 34,932
2007 June \| 8 \| 1.6 \| 45,697 \| 86,642 \| 10,336
2006 November \| 10 \| 2 \| 34,162 \| 61,520 \| 10,908
2006 June \| 11 \| 2.2 \| 36,839 \| 66,776 \| 11,638
2005 November \| 4 \| 0.8 \| 11,379 \| 21,691 \| 3,354
2005 June \| 8 \| 1.6 \| 13,995 \| 24,726 \| 4,212
2004 November \| 7 \| 1.4 \| 6,945 \| 11,873 \| 2,126
2004 June \| 6 \| 1.2 \| 5,652 \| 9,557 \| 1,750
2003 November \| 3 \| 0.6 \| 2,099 \| 5,098 \| 1,106
2003 June \| 2 \| 0.4 \| 1,158 \| 3,747 \| 822

class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"

|+ Rank of Indian supercomputers in TOP500 list{{cite web | url=https://www.top500.org/statistics/details/country/IN | title=TOP500 List, Country – India | accessdate=23 June 2020}}

List

!Number of systems
in TOP500

!System Share (%)

!Total Rmax
(Gflops)

!Total Rpeak
(Gflops)

!Cores

2020 June

| 2

| 0.4

| 6,334,340

| 6,814,886

| 202,824

2019 November

| 2

| 0.4

| 6,334,340

| 6,814,886

| 202,824

2019 June

| 3

| 0.6

| 7,457,490

| 8,228,006

| 241,224

2018 November

| 4

| 0.8

| 8,358,996

| 9,472,166

| 272,328

2018 June

| 5

| 1

| 9,078,216

| 10,262,899

| 310,344

2017 November

| 4

| 0.8

| 2,794,753

| 3,759,153

| 107,544

2017 June

| 4

| 0.8

| 2,703,926

| 3,935,693

| 103,116

2016 November

| 5

| 1

| 3,092,368

| 4,456,051

| 133,172

2016 June

| 9

| 1.8

| 4,406,352

| 5,901,043

| 204,052

2015 November

| 11

| 2.2

| 4,933,698

| 6,662,387

| 236,692

2015 June

| 11

| 2.2

| 4,597,998

| 5,887,007

| 226,652

2014 November

| 9

| 1.8

| 3,137,692

| 3,912,187

| 184,124

2014 June

| 9

| 1.8

| 2,898,745

| 3,521,915

| 169,324

2013 November

| 12

| 2.4

| 3,040,297

| 3,812,719

| 188,252

2013 June

| 11

| 2.2

| 2,690,461

| 3,517,536

| 173,580

2012 November

| 9

| 1.8

| 1,291,739

| 1,890,914

| 90,548

2012 June

| 5

| 1

| 787,652

| 1,242,746

| 56,460

2011 November

| 2

| 0.4

| 187,910

| 242,995

| 18,128

2011 June

| 2

| 0.4

| 187,910

| 242,995

| 18,128

2010 November

| 4

| 0.8

| 257,243

| 333,005

| 25,808

2010 June

| 5

| 1

| 283,380

| 384,593

| 30,104

2009 November

| 3

| 0.6

| 199,257

| 279,702

| 23,416

2009 June

| 6

| 1.2

| 247,285

| 333,519

| 33,456

2008 November

| 8

| 1.6

| 259,394

| 368,501

| 37,488

2008 June

| 6

| 1.2

| 189,854

| 275,617

| 32,432

2007 November

| 9

| 1.8

| 194,524

| 303,651

| 34,932

2007 June

| 8

| 1.6

| 45,697

| 86,642

| 10,336

2006 November

| 10

| 2

| 34,162

| 61,520

| 10,908

2006 June

| 11

| 2.2

| 36,839

| 66,776

| 11,638

2005 November

| 4

| 0.8

| 11,379

| 21,691

| 3,354

2005 June

| 8

| 1.6

| 13,995

| 24,726

| 4,212

2004 November

| 7

| 1.4

| 6,945

| 11,873

| 2,126

2004 June

| 6

| 1.2

| 5,652

| 9,557

| 1,750

2003 November

| 3

| 0.6

| 2,099

| 5,098

| 1,106

2003 June

| 2

| 0.4

| 1,158

| 3,747

| 822

=Computers=

=General=

References

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}}

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