Supercomputing moves to universities and makes possible new ways to organize computational research

Too cheap to meter? Surely not. But microprocessors have come a long way in delivering inexpensive computing power. The development is eroding the distinction between computers made from low‐cost microprocessors, and more conventional supercomputers operated—for example—at the U.S. National Science Foundation's Supercomputer Centers. It is also shifting the balance in high‐performance computing (HPC) away from the NSF's Supercomputer Centers, to powerful, local computer facilities run by academic departments and universities.