Getting up to Speed : The Future of Supercomputing

by Graham, Susan L.; Snir, Marc; Patterson, Cynthia A.; National Research Council (U. S.)

• ISBN13: 9780309095020
• ISBN10: 0309095026
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-06-01
• Publisher: Natl Academy Pr

Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY	1	(224)
1 INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT	11	(9)
Study Context,	12	(6)
Computenik,	15	(3)
About the Interim Report,	18	(1)
Organization of the Report,	19	(1)
2 EXPLANATION OF SUPERCOMPUTING	20	(8)
3 BRIEF HISTORY OF SUPERCOMPUTING	28	(39)
The Prehistory of U.S. Supercomputing,	28	(3)
Supercomputers Emerge as a Market,	31	(2)
Control Data and Cray,	33	(3)
Enter Japan,	36	(2)
Innovation in Supercomputing,	38	(5)
Recent Developments in Supercomputing,	43	(1)
The U.S. High-Performance Computing Industry Today,	44	(17)
An Industrial Revolution,	53	(8)
Impacts,	61	(6)
Direct Contributions,	62	(3)
Spillover Effects,	65	(2)
4 THE DEMAND FOR SUPERCOMPUTING	67	(37)
Compelling Applications for Supercomputing,	70	(31)
Common Themes and Synergies Across Applications Areas,	72	(2)
Selected Application Areas,	74	(31)
Stockpile Stewardship,	74	(2)
Signals Intelligence,	76	(2)
Defense,	78	(1)
Climate Modeling,	79	(5)
Plasma Physics,	84	(1)
Transportation,	85	(4)
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology,	89	(3)
Societal Health and Safety,	92	(1)
Earthquakes,	93	(1)
Geophysical Exploration and Geoscience,	94	(2)
Astrophysics,	96	(1)
Materials Science and Computational Nanotechnology,	97	(3)
Human/Organizational Systems Studies,	100	(1)
Projected Computing Needs for Applications,	101	(3)
5 TODAY'S SUPERCOMPUTING TECHNOLOGY	104	(53)
Supercomputer Architecture,	105	(20)
Scaling of Technology,	105	(6)
Types of Supercomputers,	111	(2)
Performance Issues,	113	(5)
Trade-offs,	118	(3)
Trends in Supercomputer Architecture,	121	(4)
Supercomputing Algorithms,	125	(9)
Solving Partial and Ordinary Differential Equations,	126	(2)
Mesh Generation,	128	(1)
Dense Linear Algebra,	129	(1)
Sparse Linear Algebra,	129	(1)
Discrete Algorithms,	130	(1)
Fast Transforms,	131	(1)
New Algorithmic Demands Arising from Supercomputing,	131	(3)
Disciplinary Needs,	131	(1)
Interdisciplinary Needs,	132	(1)
Synthesis, Sensitivity Analysis, and Optimization Replacing Analysis,	133	(1)
Huge Data Sets,	133	(1)
Changing Machine Models,	133	(1)
Supercomputing Software,	134	(12)
Operating Systems and Management Software,	135	(3)
Programming Models, Programming Languages, and Tools,	138	(4)
Libraries,	142	(1)
Applications Software,	142	(3)
Reliability and Fault Tolerance,	145	(1)
Performance Estimation,	146	(5)
Performance Benchmarks,	146	(2)
Performance Monitoring,	148	(1)
Performance Modeling and Simulation,	148	(2)
Performance Estimation and the Procurement Process,	150	(1)
The Imperative to Innovate and Barriers to Innovation,	151	(6)
Systems Issues,	151	(2)
Issues for Algorithms,	153	(2)
An Example from Computational Fluid Dynamics,	154	(1)
Software Issues,	155	(2)
6 SUPERCOMPUTING INFRASTRUCTURES AND INSTITUTIONS	157	(23)
Supercomputing Ecosystem Creation and Maintenance,	161	(9)
How Ecosystems Get Established,	162	(4)
Potential Barriers for New Ecosystems,	166	(4)
Ecosystem Workforce,	170	(4)
Consumer Institutions,	174	(6)
Supercomputing Centers,	174	(2)
Industrial Supercomputing,	176	(4)
7 SUPERCOMPUTING ABROAD	180	(12)
Japan,	182	(6)
Similarities,	182	(1)
Differences,	183	(1)
The Earth Simulator,	183	(4)
Other Japanese Centers,	187	(1)
China,	188	(1)
Europe,	189	(2)
United Kingdom,	189	(1)
Germany,	190	(1)
France,	190	(1)
Spain,	191	(1)
Application Software,	191	(1)
8 A POLICY FRAMEWORK	192	(14)
The Government as the Leading User and Purchaser of Supercomputer Technology,	193	(1)
Supercomputer Technology Investments as Public Goods,	194	(1)
Potential Costs of Government Intervention,	195	(1)
Alternative Modes for Government Intervention,	196	(5)
Government Incentives,	197	(2)
Government Research,	199	(2)
Competing Government Objectives,	201	(5)
Coordination Versus Diversification,	201	(1)
Commitment Versus Flexibility,	201	(1)
Secrecy Versus Spillovers,	202	(4)
9 STEWARDSHIP AND FUNDING OF SUPERCOMPUTING	206	(19)
Satisfying Current Supercomputing Needs,	208	(1)
Ensuring Future Supercomputing Leadership,	209	(16)
The Need for Hardware and Software Producers,	209	(1)
The Need for Stability,	210	(1)
The Need for a Continuum from Research to Production,	211	(5)
The Need for Money,	216	(2)
The Need for People,	218	(1)
The Need for Planning and Coordination,	219	(6)
A Supercomputing Roadmap,	220	(2)
Responsibility and Oversight,	222	(3)
10 THE FUTURE OF SUPERCOMPUTING-CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS	225	(24)
Conclusions,	225	(5)
Recommendations,	230	(19)
APPENDIXES
A Committee Member and Staff Biographies	249	(14)
B Speakers and Participants at Meetings and Site Visits	263	(13)
C List of White Papers Prepared for the Applications Workshop	276	(2)
D Glossary and Acronym List	278