Spring 2008 HPC User Forum Interconnect Panel Competing

Interconnect Panelists, HPC User Forum Ron Brightwell, Sandia Patrick Geoffray, Myricom Christian Bell, Qlogic

Interconnect Panel, HPC User Forum 1. Competing interconnect technologies: 2. Looking forward, what are

Interconnect Panel, HPC User Forum 2. Interconnects and parallel programming models: How does the

Interconnect Panel, HPC User Forum 3. Interconnect performance monitoring tools: Users and buyers of

Interconnect Panel, HPC User Forum 4. Interconnect media: 5. Do you see a shift

Interconnect Panel, HPC User Forum 5. Interconnect software stack : The HPC hardware stack

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Spring 2008 HPC User Forum: Interconnect Panel Competing Technologies, Programming Models, Software Stack, Performance Monitoring, and Interconnect Media Alex Akkerman, Senior Technical Specialist, Numerically Intensive Computing Ford Motor Company Copyright 2007 IDC. Reproduction is forbidden unless authorized. All rights reserved.

Interconnect Panelists, HPC User Forum Ron Brightwell, Sandia Patrick Geoffray, Myricom Christian Bell, Qlogic Gilad Shainer, Mellanox Larry Stewart, Si. Cortex Otto Liebat, Intel Josh Simons, Sun Microsystems Kent Koeninger, HP Nick Nystrom, PSC Gerhard Wellein, RCC Erlangen Alex Akkerman, Ford Motor Company Richard Walsh, IDC © 2007 IDC 9/13/2021 2

Interconnect Panel, HPC User Forum 1. Competing interconnect technologies: 2. Looking forward, what are the forces at play affecting the balance between the use of Infini. Band, Gigabit Ethernet, and the proprietary interconnect technologies (SGI cc-NUMA, Myrinet, Quadrics, Cray p. GAS/Seastar, Sicortex Kautz) in HPC systems? 3. Articulate those forces and suggest what the interconnect landscape will look like 5 years from today. © 2007 IDC 9/13/2021 3

Interconnect Panel, HPC User Forum 2. Interconnects and parallel programming models: How does the rise of RDMA-enabled interconnect technology and fatter nodes affect the evolution of HPC parallel programming models? Will the dominant MPI/Message Passing paradigm remain dominant? Or … Will these trends drive a real shift to p. GAS languages like UPC, CAF, and the HPCS languages? © 2007 IDC 9/13/2021 4

Interconnect Panel, HPC User Forum 3. Interconnect performance monitoring tools: Users and buyers of interconnects need improved tools to monitor and measure interconnect reliability and performance. What software is available or is being written to monitor link failures, bandwidth use, average application message size, cpu overhead, and message error rates to help HPC interconnect buyers make sound economic decisions on interconnect purchases? © 2007 IDC 9/13/2021 5

Interconnect Panel, HPC User Forum 4. Interconnect media: 5. Do you see a shift in the balance between the use of copper and fiber based cabling systems in HPC over the next several years? 6. What are the main drivers of the changes you anticipate – transceiver costs, the price of copper, bit error rates (BERs), road map progress, storage and communication convergence, fat nodes, denser form factors, backplane real estate, connector design? © 2007 IDC 9/13/2021 6

Interconnect Panel, HPC User Forum 5. Interconnect software stack : The HPC hardware stack has evolved to become predominantly standards based. Is a standards based future in store for the interconnect software stack? How is the Open Fabrics Alliance affecting its direction? Does the Alliance provide a sustainable model that leaves room for both competitive differentiation and common standards? © 2007 IDC 9/13/2021 7