CCT Hires Expert Thomas Sterling

August 5, 2005

The Center for Computation & Technology, or CCT, at LSU has announced the hire of supercomputing expert Thomas Sterling. Sterling is leaving his position at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory to continue his computing research in Louisiana. The computer scientist will arrive at the LSU campus on Aug. 22, accepting a professorship in the LSU computer science department.

Sterling says that LSU has the kind of environment that will allow him to contribute and collaborate. “Working at the CCT will give me a chance to continue to make an impact in high performance computing, and that is what is most important to me,” said Sterling. “It’s a place where creativity in computing is taking place.”

Sterling received his Ph.D. from MIT as a Hertz Fellow in 1984. He has worked in support of the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee, and was a member of the DOD Integrated High End Computing Initiative. Sterling also participated in the High End Computing Revitalization Task Force. He has published many papers on computer-system architecture and holds six patents. He has authored and co-authored several books in the field of high-performance computing, including the influential books “Enabling Technologies for Petaflops Computing” and “How to Build a Beowulf.”

Sterling is best known for his work as leader of the Beowulf project, which he started in late 1993 at NASA. This world-famous project led to an efficient way of building high-end computers by networking off-the-shelf PCs. These computers, labeled Beowulf-class clusters, have demonstrated exceptional performance to cost advantages when compared to custom high-end computers. These clusters dominate the industry’s popular list of the world’s Top 500 Supercomputers at www.top500.org, and LSU’s SuperMike cluster was made possible because of this project.

Although the Beowulf model and the class of clusters it helped to create is the dominant form of high-end computer in use today, Sterling believes that it may no longer be the most effective way to build future generation supercomputers. He explains that “the great irony of his life” lies in the fact that Beowulf became so popular that it is now hard for researchers in his field to break away from that model and pursue innovative and superior approaches.

“We are trapped by the success of Beowulf and using the same paradigm as 20 years ago. You do have to make it cost effective, but the urban legends of computing are holding us back. Processors don’t have to be complicated,” he said, “a more simple architecture can be built that works better and more efficiently in a parallel computer.”

Sterling is now researching a type of “high density” machine called the “MIND” architecture, which stands for Memory, Intelligence and Network Device. He believes this design is a more innovative and effective way to build the next generation of high-performance computer.

One class of high-density system being developed by industry involves multicore chips. These computer chips each have multiple processors. IBM’s Blue Gene/L is a multicore architecture and is the fastest general-purpose computer in the world. The Sony Playstation 3, due out some time in the next year, also uses multicore high-density processor chips. This gaming device has nine processors per chip.

Sterling’s MIND architecture also uses a multicore chip, but this new design will achieve a higher degree of efficiency. “It solves problems of latency, scheduling and synchronization for parallel computing resulting in lower cost, lower power, and ease of programming not found on today’s high-performance systems,” said Sterling.

Dan Reed, Director of the Renaissance Computing Institute and recent chair of the computational science subcommittee of the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee, has worked with Sterling in a variety of roles, including as part of the High End Computing Revitalization Task Force. Reed feels that an internationally known scientist like Sterling will move the CCT forward. “He brings a new dimension to CCT,” said Reed, “combining a focus on new technologies that are grounded in the needs of the most demanding computational science applications.”

Sterling said that the CCT at LSU is “an exceptional environment” within which to continue his research. He believes the vision, stable funding, and collaborative environment will help bolster his key projects. He is the second of two CCT hires within the computer science department this year.

“Sterling’s presence in the department will bring a new dimension to the reputation and prestige of the department and provides a solid base in terms of research to the department in many areas of high-performance computing,” said Sitharama Iyengar, chair of the computer science department.

“Something new and special is happening at LSU,” said Sterling. “There are experts in-house working with outside people coming in. The old model was for centers of excellence; now it’s changing to circles of excellence. CCT exemplifies this new research methodology.”

CCT Director Ed Seidel said, “We are thrilled to have someone as distinguished and energetic as Thomas joining LSU. The CCT now covers the bases with leading researchers in areas from advanced grid and supercomputing software toolkits to the architectures themselves.” Sterling plans to utilize resources like Access Grid technology for video conferencing and a visitors program, which is available at the CCT and at most top research centers. He believes that these tools support the collaborative model of a circle of excellence.

He is also interested in using the state’s new high-bandwidth optical network. “My team will be supported by the LONI network to facilitate collaboration with other institutions,” said Sterling. The researcher says that a network like this can help to achieve the collective expertise needed to attack the complex problems of science.

Although Louisiana has not traditionally been associated with research in high-performance computing, Sterling was attracted to LSU. The rich research environment and the community impressed him.

“It’s not too rural or too intense,” said Sterling. “I found intelligent people who understand where they are and where they are going. It’s actually a highly cosmopolitan group of people that you would find at any good university.”

Sterling believes that the state’s support of technology at universities is the right model to speed Louisiana forward. “The legislated state funding is based on a local environment with an interest in technology. This is how you bring in talent and leap frog toward success.” Sterling says that he would like to help Gov. Blanco achieve her mission for the state. “I would be proud to be a part of the state’s rise and contribute to it achieving its long-term vision. It can be a driver for the future of the nation.”

The Center for Computation & Technology, or CCT, at LSU is an interdisciplinary research environment for advancing computational sciences, technologies and the disciplines they touch. The center’s efforts serve Louisiana through international collaboration, promoting progress in leading edge and revolutionary technologies in academia and industry. The center is funded by the Louisiana Legislature’s Information Technology Initiative.

Look for an upcoming HPCwire interview with Mr. Sterling!

Subscribe to HPCwire's Weekly Update!

Be the most informed person in the room! Stay ahead of the tech trends with industry updates delivered to you every week!

MLPerf Inference 4.0 Results Showcase GenAI; Nvidia Still Dominates

March 28, 2024

There were no startling surprises in the latest MLPerf Inference benchmark (4.0) results released yesterday. Two new workloads — Llama 2 and Stable Diffusion XL — were added to the benchmark suite as MLPerf continues Read more…

Q&A with Nvidia’s Chief of DGX Systems on the DGX-GB200 Rack-scale System

March 27, 2024

Pictures of Nvidia's new flagship mega-server, the DGX GB200, on the GTC show floor got favorable reactions on social media for the sheer amount of computing power it brings to artificial intelligence.  Nvidia's DGX Read more…

Call for Participation in Workshop on Potential NSF CISE Quantum Initiative

March 26, 2024

Editor’s Note: Next month there will be a workshop to discuss what a quantum initiative led by NSF’s Computer, Information Science and Engineering (CISE) directorate could entail. The details are posted below in a Ca Read more…

Waseda U. Researchers Reports New Quantum Algorithm for Speeding Optimization

March 25, 2024

Optimization problems cover a wide range of applications and are often cited as good candidates for quantum computing. However, the execution time for constrained combinatorial optimization applications on quantum device Read more…

NVLink: Faster Interconnects and Switches to Help Relieve Data Bottlenecks

March 25, 2024

Nvidia’s new Blackwell architecture may have stolen the show this week at the GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, California. But an emerging bottleneck at the network layer threatens to make bigger and brawnier pro Read more…

Who is David Blackwell?

March 22, 2024

During GTC24, co-founder and president of NVIDIA Jensen Huang unveiled the Blackwell GPU. This GPU itself is heavily optimized for AI work, boasting 192GB of HBM3E memory as well as the the ability to train 1 trillion pa Read more…

MLPerf Inference 4.0 Results Showcase GenAI; Nvidia Still Dominates

March 28, 2024

There were no startling surprises in the latest MLPerf Inference benchmark (4.0) results released yesterday. Two new workloads — Llama 2 and Stable Diffusion Read more…

Q&A with Nvidia’s Chief of DGX Systems on the DGX-GB200 Rack-scale System

March 27, 2024

Pictures of Nvidia's new flagship mega-server, the DGX GB200, on the GTC show floor got favorable reactions on social media for the sheer amount of computing po Read more…

NVLink: Faster Interconnects and Switches to Help Relieve Data Bottlenecks

March 25, 2024

Nvidia’s new Blackwell architecture may have stolen the show this week at the GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, California. But an emerging bottleneck at Read more…

Who is David Blackwell?

March 22, 2024

During GTC24, co-founder and president of NVIDIA Jensen Huang unveiled the Blackwell GPU. This GPU itself is heavily optimized for AI work, boasting 192GB of HB Read more…

Nvidia Looks to Accelerate GenAI Adoption with NIM

March 19, 2024

Today at the GPU Technology Conference, Nvidia launched a new offering aimed at helping customers quickly deploy their generative AI applications in a secure, s Read more…

The Generative AI Future Is Now, Nvidia’s Huang Says

March 19, 2024

We are in the early days of a transformative shift in how business gets done thanks to the advent of generative AI, according to Nvidia CEO and cofounder Jensen Read more…

Nvidia’s New Blackwell GPU Can Train AI Models with Trillions of Parameters

March 18, 2024

Nvidia's latest and fastest GPU, codenamed Blackwell, is here and will underpin the company's AI plans this year. The chip offers performance improvements from Read more…

Nvidia Showcases Quantum Cloud, Expanding Quantum Portfolio at GTC24

March 18, 2024

Nvidia’s barrage of quantum news at GTC24 this week includes new products, signature collaborations, and a new Nvidia Quantum Cloud for quantum developers. Wh Read more…

Alibaba Shuts Down its Quantum Computing Effort

November 30, 2023

In case you missed it, China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba has shut down its quantum computing research effort. It’s not entirely clear what drove the change. Read more…

Nvidia H100: Are 550,000 GPUs Enough for This Year?

August 17, 2023

The GPU Squeeze continues to place a premium on Nvidia H100 GPUs. In a recent Financial Times article, Nvidia reports that it expects to ship 550,000 of its lat Read more…

Shutterstock 1285747942

AMD’s Horsepower-packed MI300X GPU Beats Nvidia’s Upcoming H200

December 7, 2023

AMD and Nvidia are locked in an AI performance battle – much like the gaming GPU performance clash the companies have waged for decades. AMD has claimed it Read more…

DoD Takes a Long View of Quantum Computing

December 19, 2023

Given the large sums tied to expensive weapon systems – think $100-million-plus per F-35 fighter – it’s easy to forget the U.S. Department of Defense is a Read more…

Synopsys Eats Ansys: Does HPC Get Indigestion?

February 8, 2024

Recently, it was announced that Synopsys is buying HPC tool developer Ansys. Started in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1970 as Swanson Analysis Systems, Inc. (SASI) by John Swanson (and eventually renamed), Ansys serves the CAE (Computer Aided Engineering)/multiphysics engineering simulation market. Read more…

Choosing the Right GPU for LLM Inference and Training

December 11, 2023

Accelerating the training and inference processes of deep learning models is crucial for unleashing their true potential and NVIDIA GPUs have emerged as a game- Read more…

Intel’s Server and PC Chip Development Will Blur After 2025

January 15, 2024

Intel's dealing with much more than chip rivals breathing down its neck; it is simultaneously integrating a bevy of new technologies such as chiplets, artificia Read more…

Baidu Exits Quantum, Closely Following Alibaba’s Earlier Move

January 5, 2024

Reuters reported this week that Baidu, China’s giant e-commerce and services provider, is exiting the quantum computing development arena. Reuters reported � Read more…

Leading Solution Providers

Contributors

Comparing NVIDIA A100 and NVIDIA L40S: Which GPU is Ideal for AI and Graphics-Intensive Workloads?

October 30, 2023

With long lead times for the NVIDIA H100 and A100 GPUs, many organizations are looking at the new NVIDIA L40S GPU, which it’s a new GPU optimized for AI and g Read more…

Shutterstock 1179408610

Google Addresses the Mysteries of Its Hypercomputer 

December 28, 2023

When Google launched its Hypercomputer earlier this month (December 2023), the first reaction was, "Say what?" It turns out that the Hypercomputer is Google's t Read more…

AMD MI3000A

How AMD May Get Across the CUDA Moat

October 5, 2023

When discussing GenAI, the term "GPU" almost always enters the conversation and the topic often moves toward performance and access. Interestingly, the word "GPU" is assumed to mean "Nvidia" products. (As an aside, the popular Nvidia hardware used in GenAI are not technically... Read more…

Shutterstock 1606064203

Meta’s Zuckerberg Puts Its AI Future in the Hands of 600,000 GPUs

January 25, 2024

In under two minutes, Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, laid out the company's AI plans, which included a plan to build an artificial intelligence system with the eq Read more…

Google Introduces ‘Hypercomputer’ to Its AI Infrastructure

December 11, 2023

Google ran out of monikers to describe its new AI system released on December 7. Supercomputer perhaps wasn't an apt description, so it settled on Hypercomputer Read more…

China Is All In on a RISC-V Future

January 8, 2024

The state of RISC-V in China was discussed in a recent report released by the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. The report, entitled "E Read more…

Intel Won’t Have a Xeon Max Chip with New Emerald Rapids CPU

December 14, 2023

As expected, Intel officially announced its 5th generation Xeon server chips codenamed Emerald Rapids at an event in New York City, where the focus was really o Read more…

IBM Quantum Summit: Two New QPUs, Upgraded Qiskit, 10-year Roadmap and More

December 4, 2023

IBM kicks off its annual Quantum Summit today and will announce a broad range of advances including its much-anticipated 1121-qubit Condor QPU, a smaller 133-qu Read more…

  • arrow
  • Click Here for More Headlines
  • arrow
HPCwire