HPC Insiders - The Newport Gathering

The warm up for the annual HPCC meeting in Newport RI (March 26-28) has started - Are You an HPC Industry Insider?.

"The National High Performance Computing and Communications Conference (NHPCC) will highlight several exciting changes this year. Also known as the Newport Conference, the elite gathering that started 26 years ago as a one-day event to bring vendors together with government agency personnel has expanded its focus this year to include a more global perspective."

"Another significant change this year is the emphasis on manufacturing and competitiveness."

I have a page on this blog site the main HPC events of the year. Many people have rightly remarked that the HPC community really is that - a community - and that there is still a relatively high degree of connection between the various practitioners. In other words, despite its growing size and global reach, it feels like a small community. People know each other. Consequently, networking, whether technical or commercial, goes a long way to helping your business. Whatever your scale of technical computing, from multicore workstations to multi-thousand-node supercomputers, getting involved with the active HPC community can help you with your parallel computing goals. Online resources can help, but by far the most effective way of benefiting from the wider HPC community is by participating at the right events.

I enjoy this Newport event - I think it is one of the best annual events for the HPC community - and am looking forward to great discussions and meeting the many friends in the international HPC community. See you there!

Cloud computing or HPC? Finding trends.

I posted "Cloud computing or HPC? Finding trends." on the NAG blog today. Some extracts ...

Enable innovation and efficiency in product design and manufacture by using more powerful simulations. Apply more complex models to better understand and predict the behaviour of the world around us. Process datasets faster and with more advance analyses to extract more reliable and previously hidden insights and opportunities.

... and ...

High performance computing (HPC), supercomputing, computational science and engineering, technical computing, advanced computer modelling, advanced research computing, etc. The range of names/labels and the diversity of the audience involved mean that what is a common everyday term for many (e.g. HPC) is an unrecognised meaningless acronym to others - even though they are doing "HPC".

... and then I use some Google Trends plots to explore some ideas ...

Read the full article ...

My SC11 diary index

Here is a handy index to the ten entries in my diary of the weeks leading up to SC11.

1. "The big HPC event of the year - lots of news, people & meetings. Busy week."
2. "schedule certainty, locations, spare time & hard work"
3. "SC11 news deluge, the missing HPC world"
4. "how do you do it?"
5. "navigation, rope and choosing wisely"
6. "fog and sports events"
7. "not everyone will be in Seattle"
8. "ppt, professionals, preparation & precipitation"
9. "printing, SC12, hopping and mischief"
10. "the final word"

Enjoy.

My SC11 diary 10

It seems I have been blogging about SC11 for a long time - but it has only been two weeks since the first SC11 diary post, and this is only the 10th SC11 diary entry. However, this will also be the final SC11 diary blog post.

I will write again before SC11 in HPC Wire (to be published around or just before the start of SC11).

And, then maybe a SC11 related blog post after SC11 has all finished.

So, what thoughts for the final pre-SC11 diary then? I'm sure you have noticed that the pre-show press coverage has started in volume now. Perhaps my preview of the SC11 battleground, what to look out for, what might emerge, ...

My SC11 diary 9

I mentioned yesterday about preparation for SC11. I thought today I'd add a few miscellaneous tips I've gathered over the years. In no sensible order or grouping ...

My SC11 diary 8

It turns out I have to actually do some talking at SC11 as well as listen to others. So one of today's jobs was to start preparing some presentations I will be giving at SC11. My normal habit is to have a custom version of a slide set for each audience/customer. I try to avoid simply re-using the same slide deck for each talk. Obviously I do re-use large chunks of previous presentations but update it, or add/remove content to get the right focus.

My SC11 diary 7

As a cursory glance at #SC11 on twitter today will tell you, it is now only two weeks until SC11 (or less if you count the parts of the show that start over the weekend).

So perhaps this is a good time to consider the many supercomputing people who won't be joining the hordes in Seattle this year.

My SC11 diary 6

Today was supposed to be a day away from the email, laptop, phone, etc. But it didn't quite turn out that way. Among other things, SC11 planning required some attention. Will try harder tomorrow (there won't be a diary entry tomorrow for example).

Which raises a question  - do you find time for a day off at SC? Some people arrive over the weekend and take a day away from supercomputing to do some local tourism. Others stay on an extra day or two after the end of SC for the same reason. Personally, unless flight schedules force an extra day or two, I don't normally do this.

My SC11 diary 5

I enjoy seeing the reactions of people attending SC for the first time. Perhaps being used to only attending other HPC events around the world, they are unprepared for the scale of the event.

Especially the exhibition. I am sure people get lost in there - properly lost, not just the few minutes disorientation that we all get several times in the SC11 week as we traverse the show floor looking for a specific booth or exit. Each year, I remember by about the 3rd day (but not the 1st!) that the booth numbers are partly logical - they are related to the rows/columns of the booth location within the hall. How handy for navigation!

My SC11 diary 4

Another good day with the SC11 schedule today - a good increase in the proportion of nailed down meetings.

Something that comes up during the process of arranging meeting at SC is the different logistics. There seems to be quite a variety of opinion as to the best way to attend SC week.

My SC11 diary 3

Well, shock, today so far has not been dominated by SC11! "Normal" work (and admin) has been the focus so far today. It is easy at this time of year to scan the headlines in the main HPC news outlets such as HPC Wire, InsideHPC, twitter (!), ... and assume SC is the only thing the HPC world is thinking of right now. The same is true of article preparation emails circulating for specialist publications like The Exascale Report. And it is even true to some extent for publications with a broader remit - e.g. Scientific Computing.