A state-of-the-art supercomputer, Param-Ishan, was today unveiled in IIT Guwahati by HRD minister Prakash Javadekar, as the government looks to give a push to research and innovation in Indian institutions.
“It is a one of the glad moments to have the fastest and most powerful computer in northeastern, eastern and southern regions,” Javadekar said after the launch. Calling IITs “modern temples for development”, Javadekar said a nations potential for growth is evaluated on the quality of its research and development.
Several technology areas will be positively affected through the introduction of the new supercomputer, he said.
Officials said several institutions in the country will get supercomputers in the near future to boost innovation and research.
“While some institutions already have supercomputers, the number of such institutes will rise and go up to 60 as the government is focussing on providing advanced infrastructure,” a senior official said.
In his speech, Javadekar said the government has invited new development and research initiatives and 2,000 proposals have been received so far, according to a statement released today.
Out of these projects, four hundred were shortlisted and funds released for the various projects across the county, he said.
IIT Guwahati Director Prof Gautam Biswas said Param-Ishan has power of 250 Teraflops and capacity of 300 terabytes. He said the supercomputer would not only augment research initiatives in the institute, but also help create an ecosystem for attracting the right talent to the field of research.
The supercomputer can be used in application areas like Computational Chemistry, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Computational Electromagnetic, Civil Engineering Structures, Nana-block Self Assemble, Optimisation etc.
It can also be used for weather and climate modeling as well as seismic data processing.