Widening Numerical Intensive Computing (NIC) Perspective — Shorten the Development Cycle

Abstract

Numerical intensive computing (NIC) is born in the 1970ies, with the arrival of supercomputers. NIC had been used before (with IBM being an active partner). But the dramatic oil situation during the 1970ies, generating a worlwide economic crisis, settled a situation driving to an extremely fast development of NIC. Competition became much stronger than before, and companies had to develop new strategies to meet it. A fundamental trend in these new strategies consists in all the component enabling companies to be highly reactive to any competitor initiative. A way to be reactive consists in issuing as soon as possible (sooner than the competitor if possible) new performing products (more performing than the competitor’s). Meeting this requirement implies two items, which end in making NIC a strategic weapon in the economic war:

• shorten new products development cycle

• optimise new products as much as possible

Reaching these objectives means developping new methodologies (which cycle components have to be acted upon, how should this be done, how?), and new organisations to implement these methodologies (how to organize people involved in product development).