Interview: SC13 Emerging Technologies Booth to Reveal the Future

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SC13 will feature a new Emerging Technologies exhibit as part of the Technical Program. To learn more, I caught up with the guys behind the curtain, Torsten Hoefler from ETH Zurich and Bob Lucas from ISI.

insideHPC: So what is this new “Emerging Technologies”?

Torsten Hoefler

Torsten Hoefler

Torsten Hoefler: ET is a new part of the technical program. It is meant to extend the technical program to the show floor. For ET, we solicited proposals from academia, industry and labs to exhibit their research technologies on the show floor. The ET program is mainly focused on research projects that would otherwise not find a home at SC13.

insideHPC: How was your response? How many proposals did you receive?

Bob Lucas

Bob Lucas

Bob Lucas: We received thirty-one proposals, a large number given that this is the first year of ET. It was very encouraging to see that the idea is indeed attractive. All of the proposals were vetted in a rigorous, competitive, academic peer-review process, exactly what one would expect from the SC technical program. Unfortunately, our space is constrained and this meant that we had to reject some very good proposals this year.

insideHPC: How big is the ET space? How many projects will you have?

Bob Lucas: We have a  40×40 booth in the exhibits area. Each of the 17 accepted projects will have a presentation area in the booth. There will also be a large shared space for impromptu meetings and for attendees to chill out while discussing the latest technologies.

SC13Floorplan3

insideHPC: What projects were accepted?

Torsten Hoefler: We aimed at a good mix between industry, government labs, and academia, both from across the US as well as world-wide. We have several teams from Europe, for example Mont-Blanc, announcing the attack of the killer cellphones, or a team from Cern showing techniques for next-generation traffic engineering on WANs using OpenFlow. We have several software projects showcasing next generation programming languages like Chapel and large-scale visual debugging tools. In addition, we will hear about new techniques for performance modeling, fault tolerance, and the use of Monte Carlo in HPC.

insideHPC: That sounds interesting. Are there other highlights?

Bob Lucas: We will have everything from novel devices to full scale scientific and engineering applications. This includes a Carbon nano-tube processor, a new automata processor, computer vision, I/O, and codes for solving Defense engineering problems and studying epidemiology. There will also be tools for debugging and performance analysis.

insideHPC: That’s an interesting set of projects. Are there any fixed times when I should swing by?

Torsten Hoefler: We will organize a small pitch of the program and some projects during the Monday night opening. Each project will have a chance to give a small presentation in the neighboring HPC Impact Showcase booth on Tuesday and Wednesday, between 2:30-5:30pm. Make sure to swing by!

Bob Lucas: The neighboring booth is the HPC Impact Showcase where you can learn about how HPC changed businesses and our society. Make sure to stop by during their presentation hours, 10am-2:30pm. It’s certainly worth coming to our end of the show floor. We guarantee that you’ll find something exciting!

insideHPC: Where can I find you?

Bob Lucas: We’ll be at booth #3547 and the HPC Impact Showcase where all talks will happen is the neighboring booth, #3947. This is just to the right if you enter on the west-side of the building.

insideHPC: Great! I’m looking forward to see you there.

Torsten/Bob Lucas: We’re looking forward to see you too!