Citius, Altius, Fortius!
SessionInvited Talks 3
Presenter
Event Type
Invited Talk
TimeWednesday, November 15th11:15am -
12pm
LocationMile High Ballroom
DescriptionWhat makes HPC actually high-performing? Besides the
(typically mentioned) large-scale computational problems
and the resulting involvement of large-scale computing
infrastructure, it is probably the pursuit of efficiency
at all levels, in order to obtain the high performance
desired. Here, both performance and efficiency can have
completely different meanings: the classical
complexity-driven one (O(N log N) being worse than
O(N)); the node-level one (80% of the peak performance
being considered as fabulous); the parallel /
scalability one (going for a good exploitation of
massively parallel systems); the energy-aware one
(looking for "cool" algorithms to avoid the need for
power stations); the communication-avoiding one (taking
into account the relatively increasing communication
cost – some say "Flops are free"); or an emphasis on
time-to-solution (focusing on "when do I have the
result?" – typically the crucial issue for those who
want to get their problems solved, i.e. computed). While
many of these points of view are rather mono-dimensional
(e.g., 80% of the peak performance, definitely, is a
nice technical result, but it just tells me that I use
my weapon well – not at all whether I use the right
weapon), the problem is multi-faceted, and it involves
modeling, algorithmics, implementation, and other
software issues. The resulting complexity implies that
education has to be considered in a very fundamental
way, too.
The talk will start with a brief general discussion of performance and efficiency in the HPC context, then have a look at ongoing activities on software for exascale computing (with a focus on DFG's respective Priority Program SPPEXA including its multi-national dimension) as well as HPC education, and conclude with a few examples from our own research.
The talk will start with a brief general discussion of performance and efficiency in the HPC context, then have a look at ongoing activities on software for exascale computing (with a focus on DFG's respective Priority Program SPPEXA including its multi-national dimension) as well as HPC education, and conclude with a few examples from our own research.
