InfoMall: A Scalable Organization for the Development of HPCC Software and Systems


SUMMARY
A technology transfer program of the Northeast Parallel Architectures Center (NPAC), InfoMall features a partnership of over twenty-five organizations committed to accelerating the development of the High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) software and systems industry in the United States. InfoMall closely links programs in technology execution and certification, software development, marketing, education and training, economic development and small business support in an effort to develop the technology to expedite the creation commercial HPCC products. InfoMall has excellent HPCC and other facility infrastructure. Mall partners have unrivaled expertise in all the areas critical to rapid development of the HPCC software industry. The process is designed to emulate the commerce that takes place in the contemporary marketplace, the shopping mall. InfoMall is a concept which can create up to 15,000 jobs in New York State, and be scaled in future years to create an order of magnitude more jobs nationally.

PARTICIPANTS
Abrams/Gentile Entertainment, Inc.
Booz, Allen & Hamilton
Computer Applications and Software Engineering (CASE) Center
Center for Research in Parallel Computation (CRPC)
Coherent Research, Inc.
Cornell University
Central New York Technology Development Organization
Digital Equipment Corporation
IBM Power Parallel Systems
IBM Federal Systems Company
Integrated Systems Solutions Corporation (ISSC)
Isis Distributed Systems, Inc.
Kodak Commercial & Government Systems Division
Kodak CD-Imaging Division
Kodak Image Telecommunication Center
Kodak Health Sciences Division
Marist College
Martin Marietta Ocean and Radar Systems Division
MasPar
Microelectronics and Computer Technology Consortium (MCC)
Mohawk Valley Applied Technology Commission
New York City Partnership
Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation
Northeast Parallel Architectures Center (NPAC)
NYNEX
NYSERnet
Oracle
Portland Group, Inc. (PGI)
Pro-Motions Associates
Quantum Development Corporation
Rome Laboratory
Sonnet Software
Sterling Software
Syracuse Research Corporation (SRC)
Tripos Associates
Ultra Corp.

KEY CONTACTS
Geoffrey C. Fox, NPAC, infomall@npac.syr.edu, (315) 443-4052

IMPACT
InfoMall is an innovative technology transfer program designed to help create an HPCC software industry and produce new software products and services for the information age. InfoMall offers the opportunity to collaborate with leading institutions in HPCC to create and market commercial HPCC products. Other institutions may shop at InfoMall for a fully integrated HPCC solution to their business problems. InfoMall offers US industries the opportunity to immediately capitalize on the competitive advantage of HPCC technology in new products and processes.

DESCRIPTION
InfoMall is an innovative technology transfer program based upon the ACTION-NYS program and designed to help create an HPCC software industry and produce new software products and services for the information age. InfoMall uniquely combines economic development funding, high technology research centers, industry partners, small business entrepreneurs, and business support organizations to apply state of the art information technologies to industry, school districts, hospitals, small businesses, and government services.

InfoMall is an innovative technology transfer program based upon the ACTION-NYS program and designed to help create an HPCC software industry and produce new software products and services for the information age. InfoMall uniquely combines economic development funding, high technology research centers, industry partners, small business entrepreneurs, and business support organizations to apply state of the art information technologies to industry, school districts, hospitals, small businesses, and government services.

We use the analogy of a retail shopping mall to communicate our approach to linking emerging technologies, "virtual corporations", business support, and new markets. As in a shopping mall, InfoMall will contain superstores of equipment vendors (Digital, IBM, MasPar, New York Telephone, Oracle), large company and small business product stores (Kodak, Martin-Marietta, MCC, NYNEX), software boutiques (Portland Group Inc., CRi, Isis, Sonnet Software), an education wing (NPAC, Booz-Allen Hamilton, Cornell, The Center for Research on Parallel Computation (CRPC), NYSERNet), a marketing wing (Booz-Allen Hamilton, IBM Federal Systems Company, Integrated Systems Solutions Corp., Sterling Software), off-the-shelf technologies, incubator space, and a jobs office. Unlike the shopping mall, InfoMall does not require a single physical location as commerce is conducted electronically using email, telephone and collaborative technologies.

Consumers of InfoMall products will have different needs and "shop" in different parts of the mall. Industry managers might enter the mall through training courses and workshops offered in the education wing. Software companies may seek out a combination of off-the-shelf technologies and emerging technologies that have not yet reached the marketplace. Large corporations can visit the marketing wing to develop new markets for products enhanced by InfoMall technologies. InfoMall funtions like a virtual corporation providing an intellectual hub for the emerging HPCC software marketplace. Technology developers, HPCC vendors and industrial and government consumers form teams to develop new high-tech solutions to difficult problems. The goal of InfoMall is to create new commercial products and opportunities for an emerging software industry located in the United States. Through InfoMall, the US will be well placed to host the HPCC commercial explosion that will inevitably take place in this decade.

For more details on the InfoMall program, visit the InfoMall.


Northeast Parallel Architectures Center, Syracuse University, npac@npac.syr.edu