Book excerpt: The Committee on the Future of Supercomputing was tasked to assess prospects for supercomputing technology research and development in support of U.S. needs, to examine key elements of context-the history of supercomputing, the erosion of research investment, the changing nature of problems demanding supercomputing, and the needs of government agencies for supercomputing capabilities-and to assess options for progress. This interim report establishes context-including the history and current state of supercomputing, application requirements, technology evolution, the socioeconomic context-to identify some of the issues that may be explored in more depth in the second phase of the study.