Bangkok--12 May--Hill & Knowlton Hewlett-Packard (Thailand) Ltd. announced its cooperation with the Thai National Grid Center (TNGC), the Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) and Kasetsart University (KU) to organize the National Super Computing Contest 2008 for high-school students nationwide to train and compete in developing parallel programs. Mr. Rungruang Limchoopatipa, President, the Software Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) said “Grid Computing is a type of parallel and distributed system that provides massive computing power. It plays an important role in many research fields and industries requiring high performance computing. The National Super Computing Contest 2008 is not only an important event of the year but also a very beneficial opportunity for Thai students since it serves as a platform for them to show their talent in a complex computing system. The contest will also help to increase the manpower specialized in high performance computing technology.” This is the 2nd year of the National Super Computing Contest. This year’s competition is open for 200 applicants. A pre-competition training about grid technology will be organized for all contestants before allowing them to form teams of three members each. All teams will be assigned to develop a program using grid technology. The accuracy and speed of the program will be the main criteria in determining the winner. 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. We have a chance to use new and highly efficient products from HP through product testing. Moreover, researchers developing parallel programs were sent overseas to train on grid computing technology to streamline their projects. We are confident that the students participating in this year’s contest will reap better and greater benefits.” 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.” “HP is very pleased to support the event and bring our expertise to help arrange the competition. But more importantly, we are pleased to be a part of the efforts to expedite the use of grid computing technology and build up the young generation that is capable of using complex computing system because they will be crucial to the country’s development in many areas. We hope that students and Thai society will get a lot of benefits from the competition,” Mr. Sanpat concluded. For more information, please log on to www.ku.ac.th/scc2008 or contact 02-562-0951-6 ext. 2551 2507 2508 and 2902. For more information please contact: Hill & Knowlton Thailand Pensri Iem-Klai or Weeranuch Puttachartsaewee Hill & Knowlton Thailand Tel: 0 2627 3501 ext. 105 or 101 and Fax : 0 2627 3510 Email : [email protected]