Accelerator Technologies (AT) for High Performance Computing (HPC) (Does Asia Lead the Way?)

Asian Technology Information Program, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

As computing moves into the PetaFlop era, and beyond to ExaFlop levels, issues of equipment cost, power consumption, reliability, programmability, etc., are becoming increasingly important. Over the past few years more and more systems are depending upon accelerator hardware technologies (AT). The Asian Technology Information Program (ATIP) plans to hold a workshop that will explore the ways Asian scientists are incorporating AT technologies into their research. Speakers will present on their level of success and the impediments they have encountered, etc. Their progress will be compared with that in the US, and ATIP will generate a short informative report summarizing the findings for distribution throughout the global HPC community. ATs can be very cost effective. The most popular ATs are based on technology used in the game community, and hence are familiar to younger researchers, and even to some students in high school. Therefore, they have the potential to help migrate high-performance computing broadly, into smaller research settings, including small universities and beyond. Absolute cost as well as cost performance is crucial in researchers decisions about the practical directions of their research. This is especially true in most parts of Asia, where essential hardware must be purchased from abroad (US), and Asians have been quick to consider ATs as a result. This workshop brings together top scientists and graduate students from both the US and Asia hoping that they will form connections that may lead to future research collaborations or cooperative commercialization efforts for practical HPC applications.