@HPCpodcast with Shahin Khan and Doug Black

One of the most recognized names in strategic marketing and communications in HPC, and an “SC Perennial“, special guest Mike Bernhardt joins Doug and Shahin to discuss the important role that the marketing function plays in HPC. A lot has changed in HPC and a lot has changed in marketing. What should smart organizations do to improve their market presence and build a loyal customer base?   OrionX Editorial TeamThe OrionX editorial team manages the content on this website. The post @HPCpodcast-32: The Role of Marketing in HPC appeared first on OrionX.net.

Following reports that ASML is under diplomatic pressure to regulate the export of its fabrication equipment to China, we discuss market data, other suppliers of fab equipment, and a quick view of some of ASML’s own suppliers. Also covered are the differences between the approach to Exascale in China and the US based on recent research by Hyperion. We end the episode by setting up the vast universe that is the modern HPC software stack as we prepare to cover it systematically over several episodes. We welcome suggestions for guests who can shed light on the state of software in specific layers.   OrionX Editorial TeamThe OrionX editorial team manages the content on this website. The post @HPCpodcast-31: ASML Export Control, HPC Software Stack appeared first on OrionX.net.

Following the Request for Information (RFI) issued last week by the DOE, we caught up with Dr. Horst Simon, Special Advisor to the Laboratory Director at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and co-editor of the TOP500 list since 2000, to take us through how the DOE is gearing up to go beyond Exascale. A very insightful conversation touching on many aspects of what’s next!   OrionX Editorial TeamThe OrionX editorial team manages the content on this website. The post @HPCpodcast-30: DOE RFI with Horst Simon, from System to Ecosystem appeared first on OrionX.net.

The HPC User Forum held a special event at Oak Ridge National Laboratory last week, complete with an opportunity to get a viewing of the facilities (not quite a tour) and discussions of Exascale Computing and beyond. Doug Black was on the scene and we discuss what all went down. Of special note is the staffing challenges of HPC sites, and the brewing strategy about how future leadership computing systems would look like. This is an important topic that we have covered with our guests in previous episodes and some patterns are emerging as we continue to analyze the future of supercomputing hardware and software.   OrionX Editorial TeamThe OrionX editorial team manages the content on this website. The post @HPCpodcast-29: Up Close and Personal with Frontier, and What Lies Beyond appeared first on OrionX.net.

The conversational AI, LaMDA seems to represent a significant advance in AI, bringing up discussions of AI sentience, consciousness, and personhood. It also underscores the urgency of thoughtful social policies based on ethical and legal frameworks. Also discussed is the state of Crypto and NFT: cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens. Should we look at them as technologies that might find valid use cases, investment vehicles that require close scrutiny, or both? These are very important topics in our times.   OrionX Editorial TeamThe OrionX editorial team manages the content on this website. The post @HPCpodcast-28: LaMDA and AI Sentience, Crypto Price Collapse appeared first on OrionX.net.

Following his always-anticipated and always-insightful closing keynote at the recent ISC conference, we caught up with Prof. Thomas Sterling to discuss the state of HPC.  Dr. Sterling is Professor of Intelligent Systems Engineering at the Indiana University (IU) School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, and President and Co-founder of Simultac, a technology company focused on non-von-Neumann memory-based system architectures. Since receiving his Ph.D from MIT as a Hertz Fellowm Dr. Sterling has been a pioneer of parallel processing systems in HPC. His many achievements include the creation in 1994 of  the “Beowulf cluster” with Donald Becker at NASA, a system that helped drive the scale-out computing architecture. Here are the topics and the time-stamp in the podcast when they are discussed: 01:23 Supercomputing “Race” 04:15 HPC in Society 06:40 Climate Change, Controlled Fusion 09:00 HPC’s Role in Informing or Helping Set Social Policy 10:37 Machine Intelligence 15:50 Future of HPC 22:25 Beowulf Bash story 25:07 Getting into Parallel Processing 28:10 Skill-set, Workforce, Software, Accessibility 31:09 Performing at the Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center 34:68 Leonard Bernstein 35:30 ISC22 Closing Keynote   OrionX Editorial TeamThe OrionX editorial team manages the content on this website. The post @HPCpodcast-27: Thomas Sterling, The State of HPC appeared first on OrionX.net.

ISC22, the annual International Supercomputing Conference was held last week in Hamburg, Germany, meeting in person after two years. This is a “postview” of the notable developments at this news-rich event.   OrionX Editorial TeamThe OrionX editorial team manages the content on this website. The post @HPCpodcast-26: ISC22 Postview: Frontier, Covid, Vendors, Students appeared first on OrionX.net.

Recent winner of the Purple Ribbon Medal, one of Japan’s highest honors, Prof. Satoshi Matsuoka, director of the RIKEN Center for Computational Science (R-CCS) and professor of computer science at Tokyo Institute of Technology, joins us in a super fun conversation that covers a wide range of topics (time stamps inside parenthesis). At RIKEN, Prof. Matsuoka oversaw the development and launch of the Fugaku supercomputer, currently holding the number 1 spot on the TOP500 list. As the list is about to get updated, next week, there is an expectation that the Frontier supercomputer at ORNL (which we covered in a previous episode) will claim the number 1 spot but Fugaku will likely retain its lead in some benchmarks. Previously, he was lead developer of another well-know supercomputer, TSUBAMI, the most powerful supercomputer in Japan at the time. Here are the topics and the time-stamp in the podcast when they are discussed: (start) The Purple Ribbon Medal of Honor (minute 2:15) The role of Japan in supercomputing (3:45) TOP500 and ORNL’s Exascale system (5:00) Fugaku and Arm (8:00) Why not SPARC (11:30) The balance and beuty of Fugaku and its predecessor the K-Computer (15:15) Notable applications of Fugaku, including Covid research (25:00) Future of supercomputing and what’s next after Fugaku (31:45) FPGA and CGRA (36:00) Quantum Computing (40:30)  Nintendo days and working with the late great Iwata-san (48:30) Pursuit of perfection, with a mention of the movie Jiro Dreams of Sushi Enjoy!   OrionX Editorial TeamThe OrionX editorial team manages the content on this website. The post @HPCpodcast-25: Satoshi Matsuoka, TOP500, Fugaku Supercomputer, Nintendo appeared first on OrionX.net.

Major news since our last (double edition) episode included what’s billed as the fastest AI supercomputer by Google, price hikes on chips by TSMC and Samsung, visualization of a black hole in our own galaxy, and IBM’s ambitious and well-executed quantum computing roadmap. We discuss how an AI supercomputer is different, an unexpected impact of chip shortages and price hikes, what it takes to visualize a black hole, and what IBM’s strategy looks to us from a distance.   OrionX Editorial TeamThe OrionX editorial team manages the content on this website. The post @HPCpodcast-24: Fastest AI Supercomputer, Chips Prices, IBM Quantum appeared first on OrionX.net.

We been fortunate to host some of the most distinguished scientists and technologists in the world who have shaped supercomputing as they have advanced human knowledge. Today we welcome Jack Dongarra who was recently honored by the ACM Turing Award for “Pioneering Concepts and Methods Which Resulted in World-Changing Computations”. Jack Dongarra is a leader in supercomputing technologies, parallel programming tools and technologies, and linear algebra and numerical algorithms. He holds appointments at the University of Tennessee, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the University of Manchester, and is the recipient of several awards and honors. In a wide ranging discussion, we cover the Turing Award, TOP500, the state of HPC benchmarks, China’s Exascale systems, and future directions in algorithms. We also talk about future of supercomputing and AI systems, reminisce about a period where a proliferation of system architectures provides a fertile ground for experimentation, and discuss whether we are entering a similar era now. This is another episode you’d want to listen to more than once!   OrionX Editorial TeamThe OrionX editorial team manages the content on this website. The post @HPCpodcast-23: ACM Turing Award Winner Jack Dongarra appeared first on OrionX.net.