Feature Articles from isc11

Panasas Backfills ActiveStor Lineup

(06/23/2011) - High performance parallel storage vendor Panasas is eyeing the technical computing and big data markets with the release of its ActiveStore 11 parallel storage system appliance, a step back from 12 that comes with a more balanced storage profile and lower price per terabyte than the performance-driven ActiveStor 12.
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Practicalities and Challenges in the Petaflops Era

(06/22/2011) - Every year at ISC we stop and look back at the field of HPC, which has consistently exhibited the greatest rate of change of any technology in the history of mankind. This year is particularly important as the conventional methods that have served well over the last two decades are in direct contention with the technology trends pushing us towards a new future -- this in the context of petaflops-capable supercomputers that have become the new standard at the top end of HPC and the reemergence of Asia as a dominant player in that ethereal regime.
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GPU Challenges: A Q&A with NVIDIA's David Kirk

(06/22/2011) - At ISC this year, there are plenty of sessions devoted to manycore processors, especially in the role of HPC accelerators. Not surprisingly, a lot of these are centered on the current sweetheart of manycore: GPUs. HPCwire caught up with Kirk and asked him about some of the specific challenges of GPU computing today and how he views the role of integrated CPU-GPU architectures as they come into play.
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Cray CEO and VP-EMEA Talk Europe, China, GPUs and More

(06/21/2011) - Cray enters the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC) with a new generation of its flagship and midrange supercomputer lines, renewed momentum in Europe, and fresh perspectives on HPC market trends and technologies. HPCwire talked with Cray CEO Pete Ungaro and Ulla Thiel, vice president, EMEA to get their perspective on the company's successes, challenges, and future plans.
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Intel Touts Manycore Coprocessor at Supercomputing Conference

(06/20/2011) - Today at the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC) in Hamburg, Germany, Intel outlined the progress it has made over the last year toward bringing its Many Integrated Core (MIC) coprocessor platform to market. MIC is Intel's answer to general-purpose GPU computing, and like the latter technology, Intel believes it can parlay the its manycore design into future exascale systems.
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Japanese Supercomputer Is New TOP500 Champ

(06/20/2011) - A Japanese supercomputer took the world title for the fastest computer in the world after the latest TOP500 list was announced Monday morning at ISC'11. Fujitsu's K Computer delivered a world beating 8.162 petaflops on the Linpack benchmark, vaulting over the now second-place 2.57 petaflop Tianhe-1A supercomputer in China and third-place 1.76 petaflop Jaguar supercomputer in the US.
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Heterogeneous Computing and HPC Accelerators, Disruptive Technologies in the Making

(06/18/2011) - At this week's International Supercomputing Conference in Hamburg, Germany, two of the biggest topics on the agenda are heterogeneous architectures and GPU/accelerator computing. Those emerging trends are joined at the hip, thanks mostly to the efforts of NVIDIA and their industry partners. Intel's ongoing plans for its Many Integrated Core (MIC) co-processor and AMD's introduction of its CPU-GPU "Fusion" processors are yet additional indications that the industry is moving to an architecture where CPUs married to accelerators will provide the next big seismic shift in high performance computing.
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