HPC Predictions 2021: Quantum Beyond Qubits; the Rising Composable and Memory-Centric Tide; Neural Network Explosion; 5G’s Slow March

Annual technology predictions are like years: some are better than others. Nonetheless, many provide useful insight and serve as the basis for worthwhile discussion. Over the last few months we received a number of HPC and AI predictions for 2021, here are the most interesting and potentially valid. Let’s check in 12 months from now […]

AI Supercomputer at PSC to Combine Cerebras ‘World’s Largest Chip’ and HPE Superdome Flex

The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center has won a $5 million award from the National Science Foundation to build Neocortex, an AI supercomputer that incorporates the Cerebras Systems Wafer Scale Engine technology introduced last year along with Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s shared memory Superdome Flex hardware. PSC, a joint research organization of Carnegie Mellon University and the University […]

Gen-Z Multi-Vendor Technology Demo Speeds Memory-Centric Computing

Today the Gen-Z Consortium announced the world’s first Gen-Z multi-vendor technology demonstration, connecting compute, memory, and I/O devices at Flash Memory Summit in Santa Clara. “The demonstration utilizes FPGA-based Gen-Z adapters connecting compute nodes to memory pools through a Gen-Z switch, creating a fabric connecting multiple server vendors and a variety of memory vendors. The multi-vendor participation reflects strong industry support for Gen-Z and showcases how future data centers can leverage this technology to attain a unified, high-performance and scalable fabric/interconnect. Additionally, a separate demonstration will show the scalable prototype connector defined by the Gen-Z Consortium, running at 112 giga-transfers/sec.”