insideHPC » SC11

Grid Simulation Plays the Epigonion for the First Time Since 500 B.C.

Rich Brueckner — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:17:31 +0000

In this video, researchers use the power of the European Grid Infrastructure to simulate the sounds of the Epigonion, a Greek musical instrument that hasn’t been heard for centuries.

Using a technique called physical modelling, Domenico Vincinanza recreated the sound of the instrument’s 48 strings as digital files. With the help of grid computing resources from the European Grid Infrastructure, it took him just a few hours. In a single core computer he would need a month. The epigonion’s sounds can now be downloaded and played by any musician using a simple keyboard.

Read the Full Story.

As you may recall, Vicinanza performed live from the insideHPC booth at SC11, turning the conference twitter stream into a concert of electronic music. Using an original Java application called Sonify running on the European Grid Infrastructure using GEANT, Internet2 and SCinet, the pulse of the SC11 communiverse was brought to life.

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GPU Proliferation in HPC Reflected in SC Conference Showfloor

Staff — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:54:15 +0000

Our GTC 2012 coverage continues with Dan Olds’s report on the rapid spread of Cuda and GPU computing. One measure is its increased presence the annual Supercomputing Conference series.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJu3l2mgOBs

This story is perhaps best told via pictures. In this first picture, we’re looking at the booth layout of the SC07 show floor in Reno. Like a typical SC show, there were a few hundred exhibitors ranging from hardware, software, and service vendors to academic institutions, research labs, and government research organizations. The sole presence of hybrid computing is the tiny green dot at the upper left of the schematic. It’s NVIDIA’s small booth – the lone beachhead for GPU-accelerated HPC. Fast-forward four years and… look at the progress. The SC11 show floor diagram is literally covered with green squares and rectangles.”

Read the Full Story.

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Video: Panasas Hosts Panel Discussion on The Road to Exascale

Rich Brueckner — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:00:05 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03-5hwAt5J8

In this video, Panasas hosts a panel discussion: The Road to Exascale. The panelists: Panasas founder and CTO, Garth Gibson; Deputy Division Leader, HPC Division at LANL, Gary Grider; Chief Executive Officer and CTO of Instrumental, Inc., Henry Newman; and Addison Snell, Chief Executive Officer of Intersect360 Research. Recorded at SC11 in Seattle.

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Video: Visualizing the Los Alamos Asteroid Killer

Rich Brueckner — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:08:49 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOcNbAV6SiI

How do you mitigate an meteor? Our Video Sunday feature continues with this feature describing how LANL scientists used a Cray supercomputer to model effects of nuclear energy source on an Earth-threatening asteriod.

The newest supercomputer at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Cielo, is currently working on classified nuclear weapons physics problems. However, it is sometimes used to do fascinating unclassified science when a computer model is so large that it can’t be run on a smaller platform. One of the unclassified models that ran recently on Cielo — a 1.35 petaflop/s machine built by Cray — was a model by Robert Weaver of Theoretical Design Applications Physics that looked at how 1 megaton nuclear energy source might effect the granular asteriod Itokawa as a way to prevent a potential asteriod impact with Earth.

The video was originally shown at SC11 in Seattle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCJeR0UebR8

Just for fun, you might remember this scene from the Sci-Fi movie Armageddon. Yeah, they’re actually working on that. Now, what could be cooler than HPC?

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Video: HPC at Case Western Reserve University

Rich Brueckner — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:00:21 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR33c5b50hY

In this video from the Dell booth at SC11, Roger Bielefeld presents: HPC at Case Western Reserve University.

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Video: The Multipurpose KillDevil Cluster

Rich Brueckner — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 17:35:20 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5u90aXo7VM

Our Video Sunday feature continues with this SC11 presentation by Dr. Mark Reed from the Scientific Engagement Group for Research Computing at University of North Carolina.

The KillDevil cluster is a Linux-based computing system available to researchers across the campus. With more than 8000 computing cores across 706 servers and a large scratch disk space, it provides an environment that can accommodate many types of computational problems. The blades are interconnected with a high speed Infiniband network, making this especially appropriate for large parallel jobs. Killdevil is a heterogeneous cluster with at least 48 GB of memory per node. In addition, there are nodes with extended memory, extremely large memory, and GPGPU computing (Note: “”KillDevil” is named after the North Carolina coastal town.)

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Slidecast: Low Ethernet MPI Latency Over Linux VFIO

Rich Brueckner — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:00:26 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb4Y9jYSr-g

In this slidecast, Jeff Squyres from Cisco shows us his demo from SC11: Low Ethernet MPI Latency Over Linux VFIO. The company is applying enterprise virtualization technologies in novel ways for high performance computing.

Download the MP3 * Subscribe on iTunes * Subscribe on other podcast players * Download the Slides (PDF)

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Podcast: HPC Tools in Smarter Manufacturing

Rich Brueckner — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:00:14 +0000

In this Intel Chip Chat with Allyson Klein, Jon Riley from the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences discusses using advanced computer digital manufacturing (tools such as product modeling and simulation) to revitalize SMB manufacturing.

Recorded at SC11 in Seattle. Download the MP3.

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Video: Highlights of SC11 from the Swiss National Supercomputer Center Booth

Rich Brueckner — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:00:55 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfKzjh3aZrM

In this video, Rich Brueckner from insideHPC meets with the team from the Swiss National Supercomputer Center to discuss the highlights of SC11.

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Slidecast: Amax – Redefining the HPC Revolution

Rich Brueckner — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 01:57:17 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRYpdTjfYuQ

In this video, Justin Quon from Amax describes the company’s HPC solutions that were on display at SC11 in Seattle.

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Video: TACC – Supercomputers, Petabytes, Hurricanes, and Better Corn

Rich Brueckner — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:33:32 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVSefmEeHn4

In this video, Dan Stanzione from the Texas Advanced Computing Center presents: Supercomputers, Petabytes, Hurricanes, and Better Corn. Recorded at SC11 in Seattle.

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Video: Silicon Mechanics Give Back at SC11

Rich Brueckner — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 12:16:28 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UEj_YNolD4

Our Video Sunday feature continues with this interview by Dan Olds from Gabriel Consulting. Dan talks to Art Mann from Silicon Mechanics about their sponsorship of the SC11 Student Cluster Competition.

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Cornell Receives IDC Award for Hepatitis C Computational Research

Rich Brueckner — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 20:16:31 +0000

Cornell Center for Advanced Computing received an HPC Innovation Excellence Award for enabling hepatitis C virus (HCV) research on a remote experimental MATLAB computing resource located at Cornell University.

IDC research has shown that high performance computing can greatly improve ROI and scientific advancement,” said Earl Joseph, program vice president, High Performance Computing at IDC.

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control used the Cornell resource to generate faster computations (more than 175 times speed-up), which provided a better understanding of networks of coordinated amino-acid variation that may enable the discovery of new therapeutic targets for the hepatitis C virus. With the cost per liver transplantation in the range of $280,000 for one year, liver transplantation for hepatitis C alone reaches a total cost of nearly $300 million per year.

Read the Full Story.

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Dell Cooks Up New HPC strategy – Not Just a Box-slinger Anymore

Ralph — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 08:57:12 +0000

By Dan Olds, Gabriel Consulting • Get more from this author

As I trudged toward a swanky hotel for a meeting with Dell, the Seattle sky was spitting cold rain like an old man realising the soup in his mouth is way too hot. (Adding more drama to these intros, nice, right?)

I expected two things that day: “It’s Seattle in November; it’s going to rain,” and “It’s Dell at Supercomputing; they’re going to talk about hardware.” Only one of those assumptions was correct.

Instead of talking hardware, the meeting was all about Dell’s HPC strategy and how it is going to engage the market. It wasn’t a typical Dell-like meeting, where they’d reel off server names and configs and I’d nod appreciatively, “Hmm… so you’re going to put newer/faster processors in that one? Way to go, nice job…”

Dell seems to have put a lot of thought into its HPC strategy; it is more focused and nuanced than anything I’ve seen from the firm before. The overarching concept is that Dell wants to be the HPC vendor of choice – not for the Top500 but for the “other 5,000″.

This doesn’t mean it won’t go after Top500 opportunities, but that Dell is going to carefully pick its spots to make sure that the deals it pursues aren’t unprofitable death marches into the unknown bleeding edge of supercomputing. When the deals get huge, Dell wants the projects to be well-bounded with workloads and customers it knows and understands – like hometown TACC.

That said, Dell’s main thrust centres on selling smaller HPC systems – the systems that the “other 5,000” buy. Dell believes that its economies of scale, efficiency, and maniacal focus on costs gives it the advantage in this market segment.

I agreed that this is the right place for Dell to concentrate, but this strategy raises a number of potential sticking points. Some of the characteristics of Dell’s basic business model don’t line up all that well with HPC – or even mission-critical enterprise system selling.

For example, Dell has a propensity to change hardware configurations with little or no notice. While swapping out a motherboard NIC to save a few cents won’t make a difference on a typical PC, it can make a big difference on enterprise and HPC servers. Sometimes these supposedly minor hardware changes raise hell with complex software stacks, causing problems that can be hard to troubleshoot.

Dell responded to this concern by saying that it has a new policy on the server side: full hardware availability for at least five years. Customers will be able to get the exact same configurations with no hidden changes, meaning that their carefully crafted processes and apps will run without question when they buy new copies of existing systems.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle for Dell is fixing its reputation for being just a box-slinger. Even mid-sized HPC customers look to their system vendors for help in selecting, sizing and configuring systems. This means the vendor needs to know a fair amount about HPC apps, how to tune them, and how to make them run best on their gear. It also has to have skilled personnel who can handle all of the above at the customer’s site – this isn’t the kind of stuff that you can cover in a few chat sessions with an online salesperson.

This hasn’t been a historic strong point for Dell. It’s not viewed as having a lot of HPC savvy compared to IBM, Cray, SGI, HP – or even smaller players like Appro. According to Dell, this is something that it has been working on steadily for the past several years, adding technical expertise both in the field and at HQ.

One of the ways it is combating this perception and helping customers feel warmer about Dell as an HPC vendor is with its HPC cookbooks. Dell is putting together recipes for popular HPC apps in small, medium and large configurations. Each of these is fully tested and guaranteed to hit the promised level of performance.

A recipe includes the most efficient hardware configuration, the software stack, and instructions for setup and tuning. Each recipe configuration can be altered to fit customer requirements or to fit in better with the existing infrastructure. With each HPC proposal, Dell includes the recipe plus pricing on the option to have Dell handle the tuning and installation chores.

It sounds as if Dell is on the right track with the overall strategy and approach. If it builds up a broad enough list of recipes and follow through on what it’s promising, it could do some significant business in the “other 5,000” market.

But this isn’t going to happen overnight. Dell is going to have to provide a sustained investment, and commit enough time and money to get the job done. If it is looking for big results in the short term, it is going to be disappointed. It will take time for Dell to beef up its offerings and to change customer perceptions. ®

This article originally appeared in The Register. It appears here in its entirety as part of a cross-publishing agreement.

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Video: IDC Presents HPC Market Update at SC11

Rich Brueckner — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:20:16 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PgYO_EhMUo

In this video, IDC’s Earl Joseph presents and HPC Market Update.

Recorded at the SC11 Pre-Show Press Conference on Nov. 14, 2011. Download the Slides (PDF).

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Video: HPC Market Update by Intersect360 Research at SC11

Rich Brueckner — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 18:31:04 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nzr5zvyJ-wM

In this video, Addison Snell from Intersect360 Research presents an HPC Market update at SC11. Download the Slides (PDF).

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Video: Conference Chair Scott Lathrop Kicks Off SC11

Rich Brueckner — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 16:41:12 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9nmSn09_mI

In this video, Conference Chair Scott Lathrop presents his perspectives on the Technical Program at SC11. Recorded at the Pre-Show Press Conference Nov. 14 in Seattle.

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Video: OpenMP Seeks Participation at SC11, IWOMP Call For Papers

Rich Brueckner — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 13:00:28 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J6ftNizk_g

In this video, Matthihjs van Waveren from the OpenMP ARB discusses the organization’s mission to oversee the OpenMP specification and organize conference, workshops and other related events. Recorded at SC11 in Seattle.

In related news, the 8th International Workshop on OpenMP has issued it’s Call For Papers. The 2012 IWOMP event will take place in Rome, June 11-13, 2012.

The International Workshop on OpenMP (IWOMP) is an annual workshop dedicated to the promotion and advancement of all aspects of parallel programming with OpenMP. It is the premier forum to present and discuss issues, trends, recent research ideas and results related to parallel programming with OpenMP. The international workshop affords an opportunity for OpenMP users as well as developers to come together for discussions and sharing new ideas and information on this topic. Deadline is January 31, 2012.

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Video: SC11 High Energy Physics Data at 100 Gb/s

Rich Brueckner — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 12:00:16 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKA3xxbwjSE

Our Video Sunday feature continues with this animation depicting a 100G network demo between the University of Victoria and Caltech at SC11.

The animation shows the DELL cluster connecting the Brocade MLXe 100 GE switch both located in the UVIC Data Centre. The network goes to the Ciena OME 6500 located in the BCNET Transit Exchange in downtown Victoria. From Victoria the data is transported over the CANARIE network to the Washington State Convention Centre in Seattle.

Learn more about the demo at Caltech’s SC11 site.

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Hengeveld: An Industry Perspective on SC11 and Disruptive Innovation

johnH — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:00:22 +0000

In this special guest feature, Intel’s John Hengeveld reflects on the amazing week that was SC11.

There is so much to cover from SC11. It was a thrilling week of meetings, technical sessions, and new technology. I learned a lot, and appreciate how much of great and exciting ride we are in for in the years to come. The key things I was looking for from my preSC11 column are shown here.

New CPUs and the Top500: Interlagos — the AMD Opteron 6200 launched on Monday with a focus on core count and power efficiency per core. Intel made a press announcement of the performance levels of the future Intel Xeon E5 family as shown on the top500, and further announced that Xeon E5 will support PCIe 3.0. The top500 list had listings from each of these new CPUs including Cray systems with AMD processors, and HP, Bull and Appro systems with Intel Processors. At the end of the day, with banner products from both vendors, the industry is set up for a fresh push forward.

New Big Systems and new systems across the Globe: While the #1 system surged to over 10PF, the top10 remained unchanged. I heard about some systems in development that will be coming soon (GENCI Curie, LRZ, Titan) but it was the news that there were not any new top10 systems that surprised me. More interesting is this occurred while the top500 bottom moved up aggressively from 40.187 TF to 50.94 TF. Hopefully this pause in the Top10 is a breather while we wait for new systems.

GPU vs. Intel MIC part 4: Kepler – Was I the only one disappointed by Jen-Hsun Huang’s keynote? We heard nothing further on Kepler. He struggled to avoid saying Intel and ARM (at one point smoothly saying NVidia when he meant Intel). He made a case that exascale in 2020 at 20MW is a key goal and that lower power solutions would be required to get there. But the substance of his talk jumped off of Clayton Christensen’s keynote from last year and talked about the “Innovators Dilemma” on the path to Exascale.

I taught corporate strategy at Portland State University for many years and have often taught the key insights in “The innovators Dilemma” and “The Innovators Solution.” So I was emotionally connected when Huang started out there. The key principles of how a “low end disruptor” captures the mainstream of the market with a lower cost “good enough” solution are valuable insights to the technology world in general and HPC in specific.

The point to the referencing Christensen – Was trying to illuminate that GPUs would represent a disruptive innovation for the mainstream of HPC. While he very clearly made the case that NVidia graphics accelerators were once a new market disruptor in gaming and a low-end disruptor in workstations. Where he went off target is trying to stretch that into the HPC space.

At 31 minutes in the keynote, Huang says: “If I can just figure out how to program it, if I can describe all my problems as a triangle. I could solve the worlds problems.”

In this comment, Huang admits that adoption of GPU technology is predicated on adopting an isomorphism. The programming model of GPU is the transformation of a problem into manipulations of triangles… and thus the debate in the industry now.

The issue in HPC is not “does the industry need the density of performance at lower power” (we do), but rather “must we adopt the isomorphism of thinking of the world as triangles to use the system with highly efficient performance levels”. This is the core of the GPU vs. Intel MIC architecture debate.

The substance of the keynote was demonstrations of the impact of increased compute density on gaming examples (BF3, Assassin’s Creed, etc) and a plug for his Maximus WS product, which while fun for the gamer in all of us left us feeling a bit… hollow.

MIC: 1TF per socket, I got excited when I found out the Knights Corner silicon would be powered on by SC11 and deeply hoped the gnomes working on it would be able to run Linpack or DGEMM on it by that time. My friend and boss Joseph Curley pressed the team to complete the demo on time. We made it, you can see in the picture of Joe with Raj Hazra (the GM of Intel’s Technical Computing Group) proudly holding up one of the first Knights Corner parts in the picture below. Joe is looking stern in the picture here, no doubt from exhaustion. He’s been a busy man of late.

The more interesting element of Raj’s talk was the discussion that an Intel MIC product appears to applications as a fully functional compute node able to run its own open source operating system. This means that many applications will port to MIC with a simple recompile. Robert Harrison stood up and presented results from porting “10’s of millions of lines of code” to the Intel MIC software development vehicle.

So the GPU vs. MIC debate is engaged in full force. NVidia and Intel are now mostly publically aligned on the goal, 20MW / Exaflop in this decade. The debate on performance is over; the debate on programming has begun.

PCIe 3: Mellanox announced in their quarterly earnings release some news on their solutions for Infiniband. A few of the new systems in the top500 had Mellanox IB solutions. Intel announced that their future Xeon E5 processor integrates PCIe 3.0 on die. No word from AMD on this, and no announcements from other graphics cards or interconnect suppliers. The beginning of the PCIe 3.0 transition is here. Interconnect bandwidth is going to be a key element in delivering performance in some cluster architectures and in some key workloads. Again, I expected more from other IB manufacturers. This transition will accelerate in greater force in the first half of 2012.

** Footnote: A sustaining innovation is the opposite of disruption. It is the normal progress of maturing of a technology to be accessible to a larger portion of an overall market space. Unmet needs are now met such that customers see higher value in the product they are using and either pay more for it or buy more of it. Adding a feature to a product like the iphone4S speech recognition feature is an example.

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