HPCwire: Leading Scientific Innovators Select Convey's Hybrid-Core Systems

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November 16, 2009

Leading Scientific Innovators Select Convey's Hybrid-Core Systems

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Convey HC-1 speed, energy efficiency provides unparalleled platform for data analyses in seismic processing, climate research, mission-critical research

PORTLAND, Ore., Nov. 16 -- Convey Computer Corporation, the pioneer of hybrid-core computing, announced today that three of the world's most prominent scientific organizations -- the Stanford Center of Computational Earth and Environmental Science (CEES), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) -- have selected the company's innovative Convey HC-1 computers to power a fresh wave of scientific discovery.

The announcement, made at the SC09 conference in Portland, Ore., comes as the company begins shipping production units worldwide, and in the wake of the recent completion of Convey's $24.15 million Series B funding round.

All three scientific groups are using the Convey HC-1 to explore the application of reconfigurable computing technology to challenging computing problems, including bioinformatics, security and discrete event simulation. Officials at the three groups say they expect their projects to benefit directly from their use of Convey's groundbreaking hybrid-core technology, which was purpose-built to help high-performance computers run faster while significantly reducing the energy they use.

"These high-profile customer installations underscore the traction that Convey is gaining in the high-performance computing market," said Bruce Toal, CEO and president of Convey Computer Corp. "The decision by three of the world's most recognized scientific think-tanks to utilize Convey's HC-1 computers as they undertake some of today's most advanced research projects is exciting and gratifying for our young company and supports our hybrid-core technology."

Scientists at Stanford's CEES will be using the Convey HC-1 to develop new seismic-imaging and reservoir-simulation algorithms for modern computer architectures as part of a new research consortium, the Stanford Earth Sciences Algorithms and Architectures Initiative. Among other critical objectives, the project is designed to evaluate modern HPC architectures for applied Earth Sciences algorithms.

"High performance computing has entered a period of rapid change that brings opportunities for huge performance gains," said Dr. Biondo Biondi, co-director of the Stanford Exploration Project and one of the Initiative's principal investigators. "Convey's hybrid-core computing shows promise of achieving impressive performance using high-level programming languages and standard programming environment. We are looking forward to working with and testing this innovative system."

At Berkeley Lab, a team of researchers will use the HC-1 system to accelerate simulations of new computer architectures and approaches to developing more energy-efficient systems to model climate change at unprecedented resolutions. The Berkeley group also is studying the application of the HC-1 system to solving challenging bioinformatics problems -- such as graph theoretical calculations required for gene cluster analyses -- that perform poorly on conventional HPC systems.

"Energy efficiency has become a first-order design constraint for future systems. We really don't see the current path of scaling up conventional hardware as sustainable either in terms of the initial hardware cost or the price of powering such systems over its lifetime," said Dr. John Shalf, head of Berkeley Lab's Science-Driven Systems Architecture team. "The HC-1 presents an intriguing alternative approach to achieving energy-efficient computing using an architecture that can adapt to the requirements of the science problem. We are looking forward to getting our hands on the system to assess all aspects of its scientific computing capability."

Scientists at ORNL will use Convey's HC-1 for a variety of mission-critical programs. These proposed programs range from nuclear energy, climate modeling to new energy-efficient, extreme-scale computing systems to support open science and other areas supporting the nation's security and infrastructure. ORNL, established in 1943, has six major mission roles: neutron science, energy, high-performance computing, systems biology, advanced materials, and national security.

"We chose the HC-1 as a lead development platform for many of the elements expected to take us into the next decade in focused performance, power-efficient systems and productivity of proposed future systems. The team backing the HC-1 has a proven track record in innovation and bringing 'ease of use' to the broader HPC community. The system is designed to have a very modular suite of reconfigurable components allowing the HC-1 system(s) to act as specialized components of an overall larger design. We will be able to evaluate new algorithms, optimize old algorithms and design new systems and architectures from the first principles point of view. The HC-1 will be an integrated part of the newly formed Hybrid Multi-Core Consortium," said Dr. Jeffrey Nichols, associate laboratory director for Computing and Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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