Workshop on Clusters, Clouds, and Data Analytics for Scientific Computing

University Of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville TN

Investigators

Abstract

This workshop will be held in La Maison Des Contes, Dareize, France, and will bring together international experts from the US, France, and other countries to discuss advances in cyberinfrastructure (CI). The specific focus will be on commonalities that exist between cluster, cloud, and high-end data analytics. CI has become of growing importance to nearly all NSF research, which makes increasing use of computational simulations and large-data analytics methods. The results will be published in an open report as well as in multiple journal papers. The results will contribute to and leverage new ideas in cluster, cloud, and data analytics computing for the benefit of the research community. The architectural similarities between the above issues, and the fact that high performance clusters typically make up the major compute nodes of computational grids and clouds, means that deployment, operational, and usage issues surrounding computational clouds form a superset of the issues that revolve around clusters. The workshop will focus on five tasks: (1) survey and analyze the key deployment, operational, and usage issues for clusters, clouds, and data analytics-- focusing especially on discontinuities produced by multicore and hybrid architectures, data-intensive science, and the increasing need for wide-area/local-area interaction; (2) document the current state-of-the-art in each of these areas, identifying interesting questions and limitations; (3) discuss experiences with clusters, clouds, and data relative to the research communities and science domains benefiting from the technology; (4) explore interoperability among disparate clouds and between various clouds and grids and their impact on domain sciences; and (5) explore directions for future research and development against the background of disruptive trends and technologies and the recognized gaps in the current state-of-the-art. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.