Army Research Laboratory (ARL) has received two new supercomputers, named “Jean and Kay,” to address the Department of Defense’s (DoD) most data-intensive computational challenges and drive the continued development of artificial intelligence and machine learning tools.
The lab anticipates that the new supercomputers will enter production in the “mid-fiscal 2021 timeframe, according to ARL’s announcement notes. These new supercomputers are in addition to the Pentagon’s Supercomputing Resource Center, which is already housed at the ARL.
“Jean and Kay will allow ARL to support many of DOD’s most significant modernization challenges to include digital engineering and other emerging workloads,” ARL Defense Supercomputing Resource Center, or DSRC Director Matt Goss explained.
The two systems are named Jean and Kay, as an homage to Jean Jennings Bartik and Kathleen “Kay” McNulty Mauchly, who are considered by DoD to be “computing pioneers as part of the original team of programmers of the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer.”
“By adding specialized technology to augment traditional high performance computing with data analytics, these machines will serve as a springboard on which DOD scientists can make game changing discoveries,” Goss added.
In addition, “Jean and Kay” will also offer a chance for DoD’s High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) to shift and refresh its capabilities. That program generally offers billions of computer core hours annually to the Pentagon to support research and development, as well as testing of military systems and platforms.
