So You Want To Get To Exascale?
by Mike Bernhardt
The Pied Piper of Hamlin, by Harry Robert Mileham. 1942.
If the U.S. is serious about having exascale-level computation available by the end of this decade, its current model of disjointed, incremental funding of multiple, small research projects is just not going to be sufficient.
From conferences to workshops, I’m sure many of you have heard this same response - and some of you may even be repeating this mantra:
“Will we reach exascale by 2018?” Sure we can do it. We’re the U.S.A. We always rise to the challenge!”
Seriously? Are U.S. Policy Makers and Funding Agencies Drinking Their Own Bathwater?
Commercial computer manufacturers have no incentive to take on this level of research. Unfortunately, many people in government see exascale as just a very large procurement. Lots of computers requiring lots of power. But COTS is clearly not the answer – and the technology roadmaps that draw a line to exascale are laced with smoke and mirrors.
The U.S. HPC community waits with anticipation to see what direction it should take – as determined primarily by the Department of Energy. And a driving force in HPC research and development of the past 20 years, DARPA, a key component in DOE’s ability to connect the dots, seems to be losing the backing and support it needs to fund critical research programs as the future of the UHPC program funding is in question.
Is an entire community following the Pied Piper into the enchanted forest – foolishly believing all those presentations that say the country will have exascale by 2018?
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Does the U.S. Need an Exascale Reality Check?
by Mike Bernhardt
Does the U.S. Need an Exascale Reality Check?
Many people believe that the current levels of U.S. investment and commitment to exascale research fall far short of what is necessary to get the country to exascale-class systems by the end of this decade.
Yet, thousands of very smart HPC community participants have accepted the position, reinforced by hundreds of presentations, that the nation will achieve exascale by 2018.
While other countries look at unified approaches to this daunting technology journey, the U.S. appears to be in jeopardy of losing momentum without a solid, coordinated plan to bring the necessary resources together in support of a national exascale initiative.
The Exascale Report talks with Bill Gropp (NCSA), Steve Wallach (Convey), and Steve Keckler (NVIDIA), and Wilf Pinfold (Intel) to get their perspective.
Will Cloud Computing Be The Answer to Achieving Exascale?
by Mike Bernhardt
If you listen to some folks, they will have you believe that cloud computing will be key to achieving exascale levels of computation. This only makes the discussion of exascale more confusing and is quite misleading. This is a topic we plan to discuss in more detail in The Exascale Report. But in the meantime, there is a lesson here for marketers.
Join the Discussion
The Exascale Report encourages members of the HPC community to contribute articles dealing with key issues and technologies associated with the drive to develop exascale systems. Please submit a brief (150-250 word abstract) to idea@theexascalereport.com describing your proposed topic. We welcome original submissions from HPC practitioners. Articles will be peer reviewed.
Please note that success stories, white papers, press releases and other marketing communications collateral or public relations materials are not what we are looking for.