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April 13, 2021

C-DAC announces new cyber security centre, software solutions to aid development for supercomputing

The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), today, announced three new technology solutions that are meant to tackle cybersecurity and supercomputing needs in India. The three technologies include a new cyber security facility that will be offered as a service to other organizations, and two software solutions that will help developers adapt code for newer hardware. The announcements were made as part of C-DAC’s 34th foundation day today.

The cyber security centre — Cyber Security Operation Centre (CSoC) — is a 6000 square feet centre in Thiruvananthapuram, that the government claims will offer “end-to-end security solutions” and managed security services. It will include a centralized security monitoring system that will aim to respond to all cybersecurity incidents and provide advanced threat detection for organizations that use its services.

The other two solutions are meant to simplify software development for High Performance Computing (HPC) in the country. This includes the Parallel Development Environment (ParaDE) and the Automatic Parallelizing Compiler (CAPC), which make it easier to write programs for supercomputing.

ParaDE is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), which helps create parallel applications for supercomputing. Parallel applications are meant specifically for supercomputing systems, which are composed of several computer processors that can function at the same time. These applications are written so that they can perform the same calculations but with different data sets, on different processors.

CPAC, on the other hand, is a way to convert applications with sequential programming code (written in the C programming language) into parallel programming applications. This effectively enhances the effectiveness of such software and is likely meant for the development of system and assembly level programs.

Lastly, C-DAC also earmarked funds for the development of an app-based system called Mental Health and Normalcy Augmentation System (MANAS), which will be a “comprehensive, scalable” national wellbeing platform to “augment mental wellbeing” of Indian citizens. The government says the platform is meant to “reach the unreached” through digital initiatives, though it’s unclear right now, as to what kind of services this solution will provide.