Monday, November 12, 2007

India has the Fourth Fastest Super Computer in the world

In the recently published list of Top 10 Super Computers in the world, which I stumbled upon by accident, India has entered the Top 5 for the first time ever with a system developed by Tata's Computational Research Laboratories (CRL).

I have never heard of this venture CRL before this and I was curious to find out what they do. It was founded and led by Dr. Narendra Karmarkar who's known for his Karmarkar's Algorithm. But apparently Dr. Karmarkar had a falling out with the Tatas and has since dropped out of this venture. From the article, it looks like while the Professor wanted to apply the High Performance Computing (HPC) based Super Computers to solve real world issues in India, Tatas were purely interested in it as a profit making venture. Doesn't surprise me one bit. Tatas are and will always be profit-minded and have no place for "technology for people".

While it's gratifying to know that India has the potential and smarts to develop a Super Computer that can compete the best of the world, it also shows the problems inventors and technology entrepreneurs face and will face -- lack of investment.

It'd be interesting to see where Dr. Karmarkar eventually ends up or if he even starts his own company. I, for one, am hoping that he finds a new and a better Venture Capitalist who'd help him start his company in India.

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