March 2011

Illinois Talks Exascale

by Mike Bernhardt

Theory and Computing Sciences building, home of the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (left); the University of Illinois' NCSA IBM Blue Waters facility (right).

When most of us think about supercomputing, I think it’s fair to say, we don’t think about the state of Illinois. And when we do mention the state of Illinois, what does come to mind?  Do you think about Chicago, Lake Michigan, Wrigley Field, the ‘Land of Lincoln’, or America's industrial heartland?

More than likely, because right now you're reading The Exascale Report, you're one of many people who regularly think about supercomputing – even if you don’t connect it with the state of Illinois.

Illinois, a state that is difficult for most non-U.S. citizens to identify on a map, just happens to be one of the leading centers of technology innovation, on a global scale (not just within the U.S.) and particularly when it comes to advanced computation, be it called HPC or supercomputing.

Illinois is home to the ranking member of our U.S. National Labs, Argonne National Laboratory, the birth state of the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Regan, and was also home to three other U.S. presidents who were elected while living in Illinois: Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and the first president to publicly use the term exascale, Barack Obama.

Illinois is also home to two of the world's leading supercomputing and scientific research organizations – the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois and Argonne National Laboratory. In this issue we are pleased to bring you our interviews with several of the HPC community stakeholders at these incredibly important and prestigious organizations.

 

Exascale in Russia: New Research, New Collaborations

by Bob Feldman

A view of Moscow at night.

From the earliest discussions of exascale development, many have posited that success will only be achieved with extensive global cooperation, bringing the most advanced thinking to bear on the many challenges presented by extreme complexity. Identifying those global resources is a continuing goal of The Exascale Report. We have covered various US and EU initiatives and projects as well as the efforts of the IESP to create a cohesive exascale roadmap. In this article, we gain a Russian perspective on exascale development in an interview with Vsevolod Opanasenko, CEO and Chairman of the Board of T-Platforms. Opanasenko has guided the company from its founding in 2002 to its current multinational status, which includes T-Platforms, T-Services, T-Massive Computing and T-design divisions and offices in Hanover, Germany, Moscow, Russia, Campbell, California, and Taipei, Taiwan. He was recently honored as one of HPCWire’s People to Watch for 2011.
 

Investments Today for Effective Exascale Tomorrow

by Mike Bernhardt

Initiatives are being launched, research centers are being established, teams are being formed, but in reality, we are barely getting started with exascale research. Opinions vary as to where we should be focusing our resources.

In this issue, The Exascale Report asks NAG's Andy Jones, Lawrence Livermore's Dona Crawford, and Growth Science International's Thomas Thurston where should we (as a global community) be placing our efforts today with exascale research and development?

 

This just in...

by Mike Bernhardt

I participated in many interesting discussions around exascale at the Newport HPCC conference. There was much discussion, and consensus, that money and power are two of the biggest constraints facing the exascale future today. But opinions diverged on who should be first (and whether that even matters), whether applications will be ready to use the machines, and the effectiveness of the large efforts that were once expected to catalyze the exascale revolution. Read on for these thoughts and more.
 

Keeping up with Exascale

by Mike Bernhardt

If you would like to be part of the community’s ongoing discussions related to sustained petascale and exascale research, mark your calendars for these events.
 

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.