Can NASA build
a crash-proof computer?
From outer space to cyberspace --
NASA can put a man on the moon, but can it lead a
high-tech industry effort to build a computer that won't
fail?
By Reuters
December 12, 2000 4:56 AM PT
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Silicon
Valley powerhouses joined forces on Monday with NASA and
a major U.S. research university to take on one of the
hairiest headaches of the high-tech era: crashing
computers. The U.S. space administration and Carnegie
Mellon University announced a roster of major computer
and software company partners in the ``High
Dependability Computing Consortium,'' a new research
group aimed at building computer systems that --
eventually -- will not fail.
Officials with the consortium,
launched earlier this year by Carnegie Mellon University
with a $500,000 NASA grant, stressed that improved
computer reliability is essential for the next stage of
development in everything from the Internet and space
exploration to air traffic control and utilities
management.
The ultimate goal
Martin Griss, principal scientist for
Hewlett-Packard's Software Technology Laboratory and
consortium steering committee member, added that
developing crash-proof computers is critical to the
fortunes of the technology companies themselves --
whether they're selling to consumers or corporate
customers.
``Take a single printer. It has
software embedded in it. It has to be reliable,'' Griss
said. ``Another example is a high-end (Internet) server.
If it goes down, you can imagine how it would impact
people surfing, buying and selling.''
Henry McDonald, director of the NASA
Ames Research Center, said the consortium could become a
multimillion-dollar annual effort as other technology
companies join.
NASA and Carnegie Mellon have
collaborated before on science projects, including
robots. The Pittsburgh-based university is seeking to
establish a branch campus at the NASA Ames Research
Center at Moffett Field, just north of San Jose, Calif.
NASA is interested in having the
branch campus to help expand a technology research park
on the former naval air station. Carnegie-Mellon
officials hope that a branch campus in California's
Silicon Valley will boost the school's profile as a
national research university and spur connections with
technology companies.
The consortium's private partners
include Adobe Systems Inc., Compaq Computer Corp.,
Hewlett-Packard Corp., IBM Corp., ILOG Inc., Marimba
Inc., Microsoft Corp., Novell Inc., Silicon Graphics
Inc., Siebel Systems Inc., Sybase Inc., and Sun
Microsystems Inc.
