Intel Parallel Universe Computing Challenge Coming to SC13

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Parallel Universe

Parallel Universe

In recognition of the 25th anniversary of the SC conference, The Exascale Report and Intel Corporation have teamed up to produce a unique and entertaining game show-style competition in which teams will face off live at SC13 to compete for a $25,000 prize.

The Intel Parallel Universe Computing Challenge is an 8-team single elimination tournament designed to raise awareness of the importance of parallelization for improving the performance of technical computing applications. The competition has been developed as a highly entertaining stage show and will be hosted by Mike Bernhardt, Publisher of The Exascale Report ™.

According to Bernhardt, “Think of this as a knowledge challenge program much like a television trivia game show, but with an unusual twist of watching contestants modify software code live to raise awareness of the ease of use and benefits of parallel programming, while reminding attendees of the rich legacy of the SC Conference history.”

Each elimination match will consist of two rounds. The first round is a rapid-fire trivia challenge consisting of technical parallel computing questions interlaced with general SC Conference and technical computing industry trivia. Teams will score points based on selecting the correct answer and the amount of points awarded for each question is based on how quickly the team answers.

The second round will be a parallel code optimization challenge. During this round, contestants will have a brief amount of time to examine a piece of code that has been deconstructed from its optimized, parallel version and apply any code changes they believe will improve the overall performance. Points will be awarded during both rounds and the team with the most combined points will move on to the next match in the tournament. The audience will be watching the exercise on large screens while the host discusses the steps the teams are taking, and engaging with the audience for their chance to win prizes.

In the spirit of the HPC community giving so much benefit to society, the teams will be playing for selected charities, with a grand prize of $25,000 going to the winning team’s charity.

Audience members will also be given a chance to answer SC conference trivia questions and win prizes.

The Intel Parallel Universe Computing Challenge will take place at the Intel booth (#2701) in the SC13 exhibit hall Nov. 18-21 at the Colorado Convention Center, Denver.

Competition matches are scheduled for the following times:

  • Monday, November 18th, 8:00PM – 8:30PM
  • Tuesday, November 19th, 11:00AM – 11:30AM; 4:00PM – 4:30PM
  • Wednesday, November 20th, 11:00AM – 11:30AM; 4:00PM – 4:30PM
  • Thursday, November 21st, 11:00AM – 11:30AM; 2:00PM – 2:30PM

Teams will be playing from the U.S., China, Korea, and Europe.

Audience members can show their support for their favorite teams while also having a chance to get involved in the trivia fun. A list of the team names and their time slots will be published shortly.

This competition has been well designed to underscore the value of parallel programming and to encourage collaboration among our brightest minds to continually improve supercomputing performance,” said Bernhardt. “The HPC industry has come so far over the past 25 years, and the contestants who compete in this competition will help spread the word about parallel computing and take it even further. I’m looking forward to it and I believe it will be one of the highlights at SC13.”

Parallel computing is a form of computation in which many calculations are carried out simultaneously, on the principle that large problems can be divided into smaller ones, which are then solved concurrently. It is a foundation of high performance supercomputers, which are used to take on the most complex and large-scale challenges facing the fields of science, national security, medicine and energy exploration, among others.