Legacy of the National Magnetic Fusion Energy Computer Center
Posted July 31, 2007
The legacy of the National Magnetic Fusion Energy Computer Center (MFECC) is
reflected in the advances the Department of Energy and its researchers have made
both in computing architectures and power and in scientific research.
Developed in 1974 at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to support magnetic fusion energy research, the Controlled Thermonuclear Research (CTR) Computer Center acquired a Control Data Corporation (CDC) 6600 computer. This machine performed at less than one million calculations per second, but, at the time, was one of the fastest available to the research community. In 1976, the CTR was renamed MFECC and expanded to include remote access to other institutions. MFECC hosted a CDC 7600, one of the fastest in the world in the mid-1970s.
In 1983, the MFECC found itself supporting research in areas outside of magnetic fusion energy and the demands of the other fields called for a major upgrade of the facility. In 1990 the center’s name changed to the National Energy Research Supercomputer Center (NERSC) to reflect the broadened scope of the facility. The center was moved to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 1996 and was renamed the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center. The machinery also grew from two Cray-1 machines to a then state-of-the-art eight-processor Cray-2. Also during this growth period, NERSC began ESnet (Energy Sciences Network) and provided networking services to the Department of Energy Facilities.
