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			Press Release
			17 April 1989

	The John von Neumann National Supercomputer Center (JvNC) today
acknowledged the announcement by Control Data Corporation of the 
discontinuance of its supercomputer business, ETA Systems, Inc.  "Naturally, 
we are disappointed with the announcement," said Dr. Doyle Knight, President
of the Consortium for Scientific Computing and Director of the JvNC.  "However,
the JvNC will continue to support its more than 1300 academic and industrial
users with the ETA10 and CYBER 205 supercomputers currently in operation at the
Center.  Control Data Corporation has indicated that it will continue to 
support its current ETA customers," Knight added, "and therefore, the JvNC
remains fully operational and capable of supporting the research needs of its 
national community of academic and industrial scientists."

	As a result of the Control Data Corporation announcement, the JvNC will
work closely with the National Science Foundation to revise its long term
program plan for supercomputer systems.  "We serve a large national community
of supercomputer users, and our first commitment will be to continue to
provide them with leading edge supercomputing technology," said Dr. Bruce
Ekstrand, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Consortium for Scientific
Computing and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of
Colorado.  "We will have to modify our long range plan for hardware, but our
overall mission remains unchanged.  The JvNC has provided outstanding service
and has made significant contributions to software development, education,
training, technology transfer, and science.  The announcement by Control
Data Corporation will simply require evaluation of other vendors for future
supercomputer systems at the JvNC."

	The JvNC currently operates four supercomputers: an eight-processor
ETA10, a four-processor ETA10, and two CYBER 205s.  Major research projects
are supported by these systems in a wide range of scientific disciplines
including biology, chemistry, physics, engineering and mathematics.  "There
is a great amount of exciting research being performed on the JvNC super-
computers," said Knight.  "For example, Prof. Juri Toomre of the University
of Colorado is investigating the nature of solar turbulence using the ETA10.
This work has provided new insights into the mechanics of solar activity.
Prof. Ronald Levy of Rutgers University utilizes the ETA10 to explore the
structure and dynamics of biopolymers in solution, leading to improved
knowledge of protein structure, which is critical to the design of new
drugs.

	Established in 1985, the JvNC is funded by the National Science
Foundation and the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology.  The
JvNC is managed by the Consortium for Scientific Computing, an organization
of thirteen academic research institutions including the University of
Arizona, Brown University, University of Colorado, Columbia University,
Harvard University, Institute for Advanced Study, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, New York University, Pennsylvania State University,
University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, University of Rochester
and Rutgers University -- The State University of New Jersey.

* For further information, contact Dr. Doyle Knight, President,  Consortium 
  for Scientific Computing, the John von Neumann National Supercomputer Center, 
-- 

Rick Thomas
uucp: {ames, cbosgd, harvard, moss, seismo}!rutgers!caip.rutgers.edu!rbthomas
arpa: rbthomas@CAIP.RUTGERS.EDU