Hence, Hey claims, that you need parallel computing only for a small range of applications. There are the real Grand Challenge applications that require an enourmous amount of computing time, and there are problems that require a vaste amount of memory, that can only be supplied by a parallel computer. The high-performance computing field also has to live with its second in the class status. Gone are the days when programming supercomputers and parallell computers were the hottest thing on IT earth. Distributed networked computing, Java, and JavaBeans, that is where the attention goes today.
Supercomputers are no longer the flag ships of computer companies.
In fact, it took Hey quite some time to find the SP supercomputer on the IBM web site. But when we get used to the idea that the high-end field is a small area, but still interesting, we can look for realistic models that will help us in the future. Hey sees a future for scientific programming, although, for instance, the HPF and Fortran compiler market never will be large. As a good example of what can be done, Hey mentioned, Promenvir, an industrial metacomputing example. They distributed their problem to a number of systems all over Europe and were able to get a speed-up of over 100.