Super Computing Contest to encourage students

Thai National Grid Center (TNGC), the Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) Kasetsart University (KU) and Hewlett-Packard (Thailand) will co-organize the National Super Computing Contest 2008 for high-school students nationwide to train and compete in developing parallel programs.

Assist. Prof. Dr. Putchong Uthayopas, Director of the Thai National Grid Center, said “The competition this year has seen improvements in several areas including competition content, staff, as well as more advanced technology. Hewlett-Packard (Thailand) Ltd. has been a key sponsor for us, providing advice, high performance computing hardware technology and public relations for the contest. In fact, HP has provided support since the inception of the TNGC.

Kasetsart University is in charge of organizing a road show to publicize the contest and recruit 200 high-school students from across the country to compete in this exciting event. The registration period is scheduled from May 12-21, 2008. The winning team will receive 50,000 Baht cash prize and their school will receive one HP ProLiant Server installed with the Open Source program sponsored by HP. The first runner-up will get 30,000 Baht cash while the second runner-up will be awarded 15,000 Baht cash.

Assoc. Prof. Yuen Poovarawan, Vice President for Information Management Technology, Kasetsart University said “To grab the attention of students in different parts of Thailand, we are going to arrange a road show in 5 provinces. On May 24-25, 2008, an event will be organized at Computer Services Building, Bangkhen Campus, Kasetsart University. On May 31 - June 1, 2008, our team will be visiting RayongWittayakom School in Rayong, followed by Lampang Kanlayanee School   in the North on June 6-7, 2008. The team will travel to the North-East and visit Benjamamaharaj School in Ubon Ratchathani on June 13-14. The road show will wrap up at Benjamarachutis School  in Nakhon Si Thammarat on June 20-21, 2008. We expect that the road shows will be warmly welcomed by teachers and students alike so as to create the new generation of experts on grid technology for the country.
 
Mr. Sanpat Sopon, Managing Director and General Manager of Technology Solutions Group, Hewlett-Packard (Thailand) Ltd. said “HP has provided full support for this important competition. As the true leader in High Performance Computing (HPC), we have invested huge amounts of money and manpower in researching and developing grid technology and, therefore, have the broadest portfolio of solutions to support diverse industries including engineering, financial services, oil and gas, scientific research as well as medical innovation. HP servers, storage, cluster platforms, software and different kinds of services can perfectly support the HPC adoption with the highest quality.”