High performance computing (HPC), or supercomputing, refers to all aspects of computer technology required to solve the most challenging computational problems of the day. By definition, these problems require innovation in hardware, software and computer system infrastructure. During the brief history of research and development in Information Technology, HPC has therefore served as a testbed for the development and early deployment of new technologies. Although the immediate market for HPC

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... ducts is not large, it is a critical one, including industry sectors such as aerospace and automobile construction, a variety of other engineering disciplines, weather forecasting and financial analyses. Many of the innovations that affect our everyday use of computers begin in high performance computing, where leading edge users attempt to squeeze maximal performance out of the fastest machines of the day. In this article, we look at recent developments in supercomputer hardware and the rise of programming standards for such systems. We discuss current challenges in the provision of standards for HPC application development and consider how Europeans participate in the increasingly global HPC arena.