A Peek into Micron’s Grid Infrastructure

By By Derrick Harris, Editor

April 24, 2006

In this interview, Brooklin Gore, a senior fellow at Micron Technology who will be presenting during an EGA User Forum webcast on May 4, discusses the history of Micron's Grid initiatives, and gives some candid advice to potential adopters. Says Gore: “Grid computing technology may not be perfect today, but it is certainly good enough for enterprises to extract significant value now.”

GRIDtoday: You'll be taking part in the upcoming EGA User Forum webcast on May 4. What will you be discussing, and what can attendees expect to learn, in that forum?

BROOKLIN GORE: I'll be discussing Micron's central governance and distributed management approach to Grid computing; several general purpose Grid applications that will be of interest to any enterprise user; push and pull application models; and “Follow-the-moon” job scheduling.

Gt: For readers who aren't familiar with Micron, can you give some background information on the company and its products?

GORE: Micron is one of the world's leading providers of advanced semiconductor solutions. Micron's DRAM and flash components are used in today's most advanced computing, networking and communications products, including computers, workstations, servers, cell phones, wireless devices, digital cameras and gaming systems. Micron also provides CMOS image sensor solutions to the handset camera, digital still camera and PC video camera markets.

Gt: Can you give me a little background on Micron's history with Grid computing? When did you begin using the technology and what led to the decision to implement it?

GORE: We started with our first production application to do wafer defect analysis in June of 2001. We were interested in better utilizing our IT infrastructure investment, improving application reliability, availability and scalability and solving some challenging, compute-intensive problems.

Gt: What does Micron's Grid infrastructure look like now? How many grids have you deployed, how many processors are linked to them, what kind of middleware are you using, etc.?

GORE: We have 11 “pools” (individual grids, all connected via a LAN or WAN) comprising over 11,000 processors at seven sites in four countries. We selected the Condor High Throughput Computing system because it ran on all the platforms we were interested in, met our configuration needs, was widely used and open source yet well supported.

Gt: What kinds of applications is Micron running on its Grid infrastructure? What kind of process was there in deciding which apps to Grid-enable, and how long did it take to re-write them?

GORE: In general we run manufacturing, engineering, reporting, software development, security and script-engine applications on our grid. We generally selected applications that needed a performance, reliability or scalability boost and that were fairly easy to run on a grid (i.e. parallelize). Some apps “just run” on the grid, some we've tweaked over time to optimize for the grid and some where developed from scratch with the grid in mind. Of course, it takes a little extra time to Grid-enable an existing application, but it has not been onerous. Developing an application for the grid from scratch adds no significant development time, although testing and debugging Grid applications is more difficult to the remote nature of the execution.

Gt: What kinds of challenges or obstacles did you face in deploying grids? How did you overcome them?

GORE: Well, as most maturing technologist come to realize, people are way more difficult to deal with than technology. So, we spend a considerable time on educating system managers, developers and business users about the value proposition grid provides. We leverage quite a few “shared” (i.e. desktop) systems, so we've also taken care to educate desktop users why and how we use their systems' idle time.

Gt: Micron is among a small group of end-user members in the EGA. What led to the company joining the EGA, and how has it been working in this capacity?

GORE: In general, we want to ensure Grid standards efforts and Grid vendors are doing things that will be in Micron's best interest. As large enterprise application vendors (i.e. Oracle, SAP, etc.) start adding Grid functionality, we want to ensure that functionality is compatible with our general purpose grid and is maximially interoperable. The last thing we want is four or five different grid systems running on our infrastructure. There is also value in networking with other Grid enthusiasts, and in sharing best practices, challenges and successes.

Gt: How important will it be for the ultimate success of Grid technologies for more end-users to join and participate with the EGA[/GGF]?

GORE: On a scale of 1-10, probably an 8. I think more end-user participation will accelerate the overall process as we help vendors and standards bodies prioritize their effort on key Grid value propositions and ensure grid interoperability.

Gt: How important is it for end-users to speak publicly about their use of grids (as Micron is doing with this webcast) in order to illustrate the effectiveness of Grid technologies and help grow the market?

GORE: Well, obviously from our participation, we feel it is important. A key reason is that often, large enterprises are fairly cautious with technology. The more folks see other people doing it, they will be more comfortable doing it. And I think it is important to share general use cases (without giving away any key competitive advantages) that demonstrate a more general applicability for Grid applications than many folks may realize from what they see out of academia. For example, it's easier for a car company to see what a semiconductor company did with Grid and say, “Hey, we could use that too,” than it is from some particle physics grid application coming out of a university.

Gt: What can enterprise grid users, in general, take from Micron's experiences with Grid computing?

GORE: Grid computing technology may not be perfect today, but it is certainly good enough for enterprises to extract significant value now. It is not difficult technology to deploy, nor is it difficult to identify and deploy value-adding Grid applications. Grid applications can be a lot more general purpose that most people realize.

About Brooklin Gore

Brooklin Gore is a senior fellow with Micron Technology Inc., a manufacturer of semiconductor products including DRAM, flash and image sensors. Gore has been researching and implementing enterprise Grid technologies for the past four years to create Micron's global Grid infrastructure, which runs over 20 production applications today. In Gore's 17 years with Micron, he has served as product engineer, computer-aided design group manager, network manager and general manager of Micron's Internet Services Division. Gore has been issued several U.S. patents and is a senior member of the IEEE. He holds Bachelor of Science degrees in computer science and electrical engineering from the University of Idaho and a Masters of Science in computer science from the National Technological University.

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