CONCURRENT PROCESSING REQUIREMENTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-00733R000100160042-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 18, 2012
• Sequence Number: 42
• Publication Date: January 17, 1985
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/18: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100160042-1
D/FBIS Chrono
ROUTING AND RECORD SHEET
SUBJECT: (Optional)
Concurrent Processing Requirements
FR
OM.
J
.,-Deputy Director, Foreign Broadcast
Information Service
i. Chief, ISRD/ORD
Room 726
Ames Building
FORM 61 O USE PREVIOUS
I-79 EDITIONS
FORWARDED
OFFICER'S
INITIALS
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/18: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100160042-1
NO.
FBIS-0021185
17 January 198S
STATE
STATp3
COMMENTS (Number each comment to show from whom
to whom. Draw a line across column after each comment.)
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/18: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100160042-1
FBIS-0021/85
17 January 1985
MEMORANDUM FOR: Chief, Information Systems Research Division
Office of Research and Development
Deputy Director, Foreign Broadcast Information Service
STAT
SUBJECT: Concurrent Processing Requirements
1. Thank you for the memorandum of 27 December on concurrent
processing. FBIS is interested in the topic. As you may know our
ongoing Modernization efforts include storage of the FBIS products.
It is our intention to store as much as 20 years of text material.
Facilities to effect quick retrieval could well be enhanced through
the application of concurrent processing approaches.
2. Text retrieval from a classified data base will be a daily and
routine activity by a large number of FBIS personnel. Our current
approach, within the approved and funded Modernization effort, is to
contract for a system meeting many FBIS automation requirements. The
contemplated system will include one or more commercial data base
management systems. Although we have no intention of greatly modifying
the vendor software, additional software will be written to extend the
capability to meet our specific requirements.
3. FBIS would like to attend your seminar on the topic.
cc: C/SDS
Chief Systems Development Staff, will represent FBIS
She can be reached on
STAT
STAT
STAT
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/18: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100160042-1
DDS$T/FBISf
(17Jan85)
STAT
Distribution:
Original - Addressee
1 - D/FBIS Chrono
1 - C/SDS
1 - Modernization File
1 - FBIS Registry
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/18: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100160042-1
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/18: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100160042-1
FROM Philip K. Eckman
Director of Research & development
SUBJECT Concurrent Processing Requirements
1. Action Requested - That you suggest applications of
parallel or concurrent computer processing (para 3 below), and
indicate your interest in attending a seminar on concurrent
processing which would bring industry vendors and potential Agency
applications together (para 4 below). We would appreciate your
response by 18 January so we can finalize the seminar.
2. Background - Forthcoming advances in computer hardware
promise improved cost effectiveness whenever the computing
application can be "parallelized" -- that is, organized so various
pieces of the overall task can be computed at the same time. A
number of problems can be so organized. Classically, these include
cases where the data is naturally thought of spatially, in one, two,
or three dimensions -- e.g., signal analysis, networks, and weather
or oil-reservoir simulation modeling.
As more powerful processor chips are developed, computer
architects are drawn naturally to design systems with multiple
processors. The hardware design challenge is how to interconnect
the processors and their memory -- everything talking to everything
else requires geometrical growth in the number of interconnections.
For systems programmers the battle is with the law of diminishing
returns -- controlling and servicing more and more processors may
mean that each additional processor adds less and less to the
overall system performance ... and may even degrade performance.
For compiler writers, the task is to design them so they produce
efficient, parallel code without knowing the details of the
particular application. For applications programmers the goal is to
program in such a way as to give the compiler a chance. Ultimately,
however, the challenge is for the analyst to recast the problem into
as many independent pieces as possible and produce new algorithms
which take better advantage of parallel processing.
3. Agency Applications - For those applications which you
think might benefit from new, concurrent processing architectures,
please indicate:
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/18: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100160042-1
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/18: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100160042-1
SUBJECT: Concurrent Processing Requirements
a. nature of the intelligence application ... a brief
description at whatever level of classification is
required;
b. scope of the computation ... how often would the
computations be done? by what measures are
conventional computing resources inadequate?
c. kinds of computational algorithms now used ... are
they standard? from what branch of science or math
do they derive? where were they developed? in what
language?
d. budgetary status of the program ... is the program
now funded? are funds available for new hardware?
are funds available which could be used to do the
recoding which might be required to switch to a new
hardware architecture if the hardware were
available "free"?
4. A Seminar on Concurrent Processing is being planned by The
Office of Research and Development for the spring of 1985. This
will bring together computer scientists, prospective vendors, and
Agency personnel in order to exchange information on
concurrent/parallel processing.
a. would you like to attend? are there others, not on
our distribtuion list who should be invited?
b. are there contractors/vendors whom you think we
should invite?
c. can you suggest the appropriate classification
level at which the conference (or parts of it)
should be held?
5. ORD's focal point for this effort will b
Chie
Information Systems Research Division
Your
responses should be addressed to him. If you have any question,
don't hesitate to call him, or me
Philip K. Eckman
f STAT
STAT
STAT
STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/18: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100160042-1
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/18: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100160042-1
STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/06/18: CIA-RDP88-00733R000100160042-1