IDC Announces Winners of HPC Innovation Excellence Awards

June 24, 2014

LEIPZIG, Germany, June 24 — — International Data Corporation (IDC) today announced the seventh round of recipients of the HPC Innovation Excellence Award at the ISC’14 supercomputer industry conference in Leipzig, Germany. Prior winners were announced at the ISC’11, SC11, ISC’12, SC12, ISC’13, and SC13 supercomputing conferences.

The HPC Innovation Excellence Award recognizes noteworthy achievements by users of high performance computing (HPC) technologies. The program’s main goals are to showcase return on investment (ROI) and scientific success stories involving HPC; to help other users better understand the benefits of adopting HPC and justify HPC investments, especially for small and medium-size businesses (SMBs); to demonstrate the value of HPC to funding bodies and politicians; and to expand public support for increased HPC investments.

“IDC research has shown that HPC can accelerate innovation cycles greatly and in many cases can generate ROI. The award program aims to collect a large set of success stories across many research disciplines, industries, and application areas,” said Chirag Dekate, Research Manager, High Performance Computing at IDC. “The winners achieved clear success in applying HPC to greatly improve business ROI, scientific advancement, and/or engineering successes. Many of the achievements also directly benefit society.”

Winners of the first six rounds of awards, announced over the last three years, included 34 organizations from the U.S., three from the People’s Republic of China and Italy, four from UK, two from India, and one each from Australia, Canada, Sweden, South Korea, Switzerland, Germany, France, and Spain.

The new award winners and project leaders announced at ISC’14 are as follows (contact IDC for additional details about the projects):

  • University of Wisconsin-Madison (U.S.). University of Wisconsin Researchers utilized HPC resources in combination with multiple advanced forms of protein structure prediction algorithms and deep sequence data mining to construct a highly plausible capsid model for Rhinovirus-C (~600,000 atoms). The simulation model helps researchers in explaining why the existing pharmaceuticals don’t work on this virus. The modeling frameworks developed by the researchers provide angstrom-level predictions for new antivirals and a platform for vaccine development. Lead: Ann C. Palmenberg
  • Argonne National Laboratory, Caterpillar, Convergent Science (U.S.). Researchers from Argonne National Laboratory conducted one of the largest internal combustion engine simulations. Predictive internal combustion engine simulations necessitate very fine spatial and temporal resolutions, high-fidelity and robust two-phase flow, spray, turbulence, combustion, and emission models. The research has allowed Caterpillar Inc. to shrink their development timescales and thus result in significant cost savings. Caterpillar engineers predict that these HPC developments will reduce the number of multi-cylinder test programs by at least a factor of two, which will result in a cost saving of $500,000-$750,000 per year. Lead: Sibendu Som
  • CINECA (Italy). Engineers from THESAN srl, an Italian SME active in the renewable energy sector, teamed up with the Italian supercomputing center CINECA to develop simulation-driven engineering of hydroelectric turbines. The research was conducted in the framework of the PRACE SHAPE (SME HPC Adoption Programme in Europe) Initiative. The engineers and researchers built an HPC-based workflow to optimize the design of a new class of hydroelectric turbines. Using CFD Thesan could generate cost savings through reducing or eliminating the production of physical prototypes, better understanding the flaws of earlier design setups, and critically shortening the time to market. Lead: Raffaele Ponzini, Roberto Vadori, Giovanni Erbacci, Claudio Arlandini
  • Pipistrel d.o.o. (Slovenia). Engineers and scientists from Pipistrel utilized HPC and technical computing resources to design and develop the Taurus G4 aircraft. The aircraft was conceived, designed, and built in a mere 5 months, relying heavily on CAD and rapid prototyping techniques, but especially on the use of CFD and other computer aerodynamic tools for evaluation of flight performance and handling before committing to the building of the prototype. The aircraft introduced a unique twin fuselage configuration, presenting significant challenges in designing the wings, high lift systems, and the overall configuration. HPC-based CFD was used already in the conceptual design stage to optimize the shape of the engine nacelle in order to avoid premature flow separation. CFD was used in further stages of the design to optimize the high lift slotted flap geometry, and especially to determine the lift and stability behavior of the complete aircraft configuration in ground effect. Lead: Prof. Dr. Gregor Veble
  • Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, EPCC at the University of Edinburgh, York Plasma Institute at the University of York, and Lund University. Researchers from CCFE, EPCC and the Universities of York and Lund have made substantial recent optimizations for the well-known plasma turbulence code, GS2. This included a total rewrite of the routines that calculate the response matrices required by the code’s implicit algorithm, which has significantly accelerated GS2’s initialization, typically by a factor of more than 10. Taken together, these optimizations have vastly reduced wall time, as illustrated by the impressive gain in speed by a factor of 20 that was achieved for a benchmark calculation running on 8,192 cores. The optimized code achieves scaling efficiencies close to 50% at 4,096 cores and 30% at 8,192 cores for a typical calculation, compared to efficiencies of 4% and 2% respectively prior to these optimizations. Leads: David Dickinson, Adrian Jackson, Colin M Roach and Joachim Hein
  • Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, ORNL (U.S.). Researchers from Westinghouse Electric Company and the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of LWRs (CASL), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Innovation Hub, performed core physics simulations of the AP1000 PWR startup core using CASL’s Virtual Environment for Reactor Application (VERA). These calculations, performed on the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) “Titan” Cray XK7 system, produced 3D high-fidelity power distributions representing the conditions expected to occur during the AP1000 start-up. The set of results obtained provide insights that improve understanding of core conditions, helping to ensure safe startup of the AP1000 PWR first core. Lead: Fausto Franceschini (Westinghouse)
  • Rolls-Royce, Procter and Gamble, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Cray Inc., Livermore Software Technology Corporation (U.S.). Researchers from NCSA, Rolls Royce, Proctor and Gamble, Cray Inc, and Livermore Software Technology Corporation were able to scale the commercial explicit finite element code, LS-DYNA, to 15,000 cores on Blue Waters. The research has potential to transform several industries including aerospace and automotive engine design, and consumer product development and design. Researchers cited that the increased scalability can result in significant cost savings. Lead: Todd Simons, Seid Koric.

IDC welcomes award entries from anywhere in the world. Entries may be submitted at any time by completing the brief form available at https://www.hpcuserforum.com/innovationaward/. New winners will be announced multiple times each year. Submissions must contain a clear description of the dollar value or scientific value received in order to qualify. The HPC User Forum Steering Committee performs an initial ranking of the submissions, after which domain and vertical experts are called on, as needed, to evaluate the submissions.

HPC Innovation Excellence Award sponsors include Adaptive Computing, Altair, AMD, Ansys, Cray, Avetec/DICE, the Boeing Company, the Council on Competitiveness, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Ford Motor Company, Hewlett Packard, HPCwire, insideHPC, Intel, Microsoft, National Science Foundation, NCSA, Platform Computing, Scientific Computing, and SGI.

The next round of HPC Innovation Excellence Award winners will be announced at SC’14 in November 2014.

About IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. In 2014, IDC celebrates its 50th anniversary of providing strategic insights to help clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world’s leading technology media, research, and events company. You can learn more about IDC by visiting www.idc.com.

Source: International Data Corporation

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!

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…

Nvidia Appoints Andy Grant as EMEA Director of Supercomputing, Higher Education, and AI

March 22, 2024

Nvidia recently appointed Andy Grant as Director, Supercomputing, Higher Education, and AI for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). With over 25 years of high-performance computing (HPC) experience, Grant brings a 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…

Houston We Have a Solution: Addressing the HPC and Tech Talent Gap

March 15, 2024

Generations of Houstonian teachers, counselors, and parents have either worked in the aerospace industry or know people who do - the prospect of entering the fi 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