Exascale

The BioExcel project, which is establishing a Centre of Excellence in Computational Biomolecular Research, is now well into its second year. Here is an update on our progress.

Reaching the exascale has been a focus of the HPC community for several years, and EPCC has been a key player from the beginning.

NEXTGenIO was one of several EC-funded exascale projects that we started work on last year. Here’s what’s been happening since it launched.

The NEXTGenIO project represents a step along the Exascale pathway.

We are developing a prototype platform that utilises the latest developments in memory technology, and that will offer vastly improved I/O performance compared to current HPC machines. The system will be developed end-to-end by the project partners – from inception through to delivery, with a full suite of systemware that can make use of the new technologies.

We are very proud to be leading two new projects focused on the Exascale challenge: NEXTGenIO and INTERTWinE. Both started on October 1st 2015 and will run for 36 months.

The Nu-FuSE (Nuclear Fusion Simulations at Exascale) project was a 3-year, G8 funded, international research project to investigate the challenges and requirements for fusion simulations at Exascale levels. The project’s aim was to significantly improve computational modelling capabilities for fusion, and fusion-related sciences, enhancing the predictive capabilities needed to address key physics challenges of a new generation of fusion systems. 

Every year I have the pleasure (and challenge!) of organising a series of guest lectures as part of EPCC's MSc in HPC. The lectures form part of the HPC Ecosystem course, and aim to give students an appreciation of the current issues and experiences of real-world HPC practioners.

Dr Jason Beech-Brandt, Manager Exascale Research, Europe at Cray writes about the CRESTA project, which is addressing the challenges of exascale computing.

Seymour Cray, the pioneer of supercomputing, famously asked if you would rather plough a field with two strong oxen or 1024 chickens.

In a previous post I introduced the European Exascale Software Initiative (EESI) Co-design deliverable in which EPCC is a joint task leader. We are looking to understand exactly what different people mean by the co-design term, what can be done to encourage and promote co-design and - specifically for exascale - how institutions might apply it to successfully deliver the HPC services of tomorrow.

It is widely accepted that to meet the deadline of an exascale system by 2020, a variety of complex problems must be solved.