PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MAUI HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING CENTER The upgrade of the supercomputer at the Maui High Performance Computing Center makes computations 350 times faster than they were since 1993.

Maui supercomputer
gets $4.3 million upgrade

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Star-Bulletin staff

KIHEI, Maui >> Government officials along with residents held a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday for a $4.3 million improvement of the supercomputer at the Maui High Performance Computing Center.

Air Force Capt. Dale White, the center's program manager, said the IBM Power4 upgrade of the supercomputer makes computations one-third faster than they were a few weeks ago and 350 times faster than they were when the center was initially opened in 1993.

White said the addition of cutting-edge improvements will enable researchers to take a step forward in their work with the Air Force Maui Optical & Supercomputing Site on Haleakala.

The Air Force site has six telescopes that assist in identifying images in space, including 8,000 to 10,000 satellites and pieces of satellites.

The cataloguing of the images helps American astronauts avoid colliding with space objects, some of which move at 17,000-18,000 mph, officials said.

Some 220 people work at the Kihei and Haleakala sites, including some 200 civilians.

Air Force officials say the center has one of the top 30 supercomputers in the world.

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Maui High Performance Computing Center