Latest issue
HPC PROJECTS: OIL AND GAS
Super seismic
GPUs are established in both the visualisation and the processing of seismic data. Stephen Mounsey looks at how the technology is used, and at alternative hardware types available to geophysical analysts in the oil and gas industry
HPC PROJECTS: MULTICORE
Multiple cores multiply programming
The transition from applications written for sequential execution to those that can take advantage of multicore architectures has taken on enormous importance and brought with it some challenging problems. Paul Schreier examines some of the tools that are available to help programmers parallelise their code
HPC PROJECTS: CLOUD COMPUTING
Looking for the silver lining
If you believe the hype, then 'The Cloud' will be the next big thing across all strata of computing. Stephen Mounsey asks what it can bring to the HPC party
HPC DIRECTOR
The next generation
Dr Oz Parchment, IT infrastructure services manager, University of Southampton, describes his role and discusses the university's latest supercomputer, Iridis 3
Latest features
Looking for the silver lining
If you believe the hype, then 'The Cloud' will be the next big thing across all strata of computing. Stephen Mounsey asks what it can bring to the HPC party
The next generation
Dr Oz Parchment, IT infrastructure services manager, University of Southampton, describes his role and discusses the university's latest supercomputer, Iridis 3
Unbounded clusters
Especially with the advent of cloud computing, virtualisation and the increasing popularity of GPUs, what a physical computing system looks like is very fluid. Paul Schreier looks into how vendors of cluster management software address the provisioning and workload management needs resulting from this major trend
A picture says a thousand words
Visualisation is a vital component of many HPC applications, but rendering huge datasets is no easy task, as Stephen Mounsey discovers
The ins and outs of HPC
Lee Ward, principal member of technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories, tackles HPC-related IO improvements to multiple supercomputing projects
The GPU jump
General-purpose graphical processing units (GPGPUs) have been making inroads into HPC applications, but with the release of chips optimised for scientific computations rather than just graphics processing, this branch is poised to make major market inroads. Paul Schreier examines what's behind this upcoming jump in performance, and its implications
Let's talk about the weather
Stephen Mounsey discovers how high performance computing contributes to atmospheric science and improves the accuracy of weather forecasts
Towards exascale
Arthur 'Buddy' Bland, project director for the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, describes the rise from terascale to petascale computing and the road to exascale
Facing the heat
In the design of their servers, computer manufacturers are combating the need for power at every level: from processors, to power supplies, to cooling methods and everything in between. Paul Schreier checked with some major suppliers to investigate what they've been up to
Driving change
Stephen Mounsey examines some of the applications of HPC within the automotive industry
HPC as a service
Xi Zili is director of Shanghai Supercomputer Center, providing services for both science and industry
HPC colonises the desktop
Computers are continuing along their astounding path down the price/performance curve to the point where you can literally put the power of what we not long ago considered a supercomputer on or beside your desk in an office environment. Paul Schreier reviews some of these powerful systems
Saving lives with supercomputers
Stephen Mounsey looks at how HPC is transforming biology and medicine
Asking the big questions
Stephen Mounsey finds out about the computing power behind some of the world's most ambitious scientific projects
Making the connection
HPC system architects are increasingly turning to alternative interconnects such as InfiniBand to replace Ethernet in many situations. Paul Schreier examines what is driving this trend
Drilling for fuel
HPC technology is aiding oil and gas companies locate hidden submarine reserves in a fraction of the time taken by previous methods, as Stephen Mounsey discovers
Computer - reconfigure yourself!
Although they're not simple to program, field-programmable gate arrays can greatly accelerate frequently used functions, and you can reprogram them on the fly to tackle new tasks. Paul Schreier examines the impact they are starting to have on HPC
Far more than petaflops
Thomas Lippert, director of the Jülich Supercomputing Centre at Forschungszentrum Jülich explains how supercomputers of highest scalability and scientific users can be brought closer together by means of a new support instrument: the simulation laboratory
Crisis management?
With the world of finance in meltdown, relying on HPC solutions to predict the future is vital, as Stephen Mounsey discovers
Clusters have open-source roots
When setting up and configuring an HPC cluster, there is a wide variety of choices when it comes to tools: proprietary software from hardware or software vendors, many open source tools, and open source tools with commercial support. Paul Schreier provides a quick overview of the major players and their offerings
Dedicated to science
Dr Peter Beckman directs the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) in providing the computational science community with world-leading computing capability dedicated to breakthrough science and engineering
A supercomputer chip for every man
While GPUs (graphics processing units) were initially designed to accelerate video and gaming, vendors of science and engineering software are using them to accelerate their code. Paul Schreier looks at the benefits for today and tomorrow
Weathering well
Gemma Church finds out how scientists are using HPC to predict climate and weather more accurately and efficiently
Driven by science
Professor Marek Niezgódka, Director of the ICM Centre at the University of Warsaw, explains why the centre heads the Green Top500 list and concentrates on open systems
An energy crisis in HPC
Green computing is becoming important for HPC, not only for reasons of energy conservation and cost reduction, but also because data centres are reaching the limits of power available to them. Paul Schreier examines steps being taken to cut HPC power requirements
Racing ahead
Gemma Church takes a look at how HPC technology is assisting F1 teams at the cutting edge of the sport
Driving NASA missions
Rupak Biswas, chief of NASA's Advanced Supercomputing Division, explains the challenges he faces running one of the most high-profile establishments in the world
When models outgrow hardware, turn to HPC
Computer-aided engineering (CAE) models are becoming too large to run on a single CPU. Paul Schreier looks at how affordable HPC changes all the rules
Leading northern lights
Gemma Church looks at the range of HPC centres and projects undertaken in northern Europe, covering Scandinavia, Benelux and the Nordic Countries
Responsibilities beyond technology
In the first of our new regular features on HPC directors, Stephen Winter, Dean of Informatics at the University of Westminster, explains how his role is as much about advocacy and marketing as it is about choosing and managing the technology.
Stuck in the middle
Gemma Church assesses the HPC landscape in central and eastern Europe
A universe of data
Paul Schreier visits CERN to learn about the computing resources needed for the world's largest ever scientific experiment
Scientific supercomputing in Germany
Gemma Simpson assesses the market for high-performance computing in Germany, with a look at HPC centres and the scientific projects placed there
The universe in a desktop
Carlos Frenk, Ogden professor of fundamental physics, University of Durham
Sun, Spain and supercomputing
There’s more to this 19th century chapel than meets the eye, as David Robson discovers
Putting the user first
David Robson on supercomputing projects in the UK
A new power base in Europe
David Robson explores the latest initiatives driving the development of high-performance computing in Europe
In profile: ISC
Beyond boundaries
Tom Wilkie reports from the Supercomputing Conference in Dresden.
A parallel universe
Cheaper clusters, multi-core chips, and ever more complex problems to solve mean that the era of desktop supercomputing is upon us. Even Microsoft is getting in on the act, as Tom Wilkie reports
