Results Matter. Trust NAG.
Numerical Algorithms GroupMathematics and technology for optimized performance
Andrew JonesIDC HPC User Forum, Imperial College London, 16 Oct 2008
Creating an edge with HPC
Results Matter. Trust NAG.
HPC: what & why?
computation is a strategic business activity across most industries
research, aerospace, automotive, logistics, financial, ...
HPC is an accelerator of computation
can create competitive edgeby optimising your use of HPC facilities
Results Matter. Trust NAG.
An edge?
Look to differentiate
Do something faster/better/cheaperthan your competitors
Results Matter. Trust NAG.
How to create an edge with HPC?
Get results faster: more powerful HPC facility
Get better results: more powerful HPC service
Reduce costs: more cost-effective HPC service
Optimise business processes surrounding HPC
Results Matter. Trust NAG.
More powerful HPC?
Faster (more?) hardware
Use dense FLOPS: GPU’s, accelerators, etc
Results Matter. Trust NAG.
More cost-effective HPC?
Commodity hardware
“Green” hardware & datacentres
Deploy hardware in scale with needs
Use cheap FLOPS: GPU’s, accelerators, etc
Results Matter. Trust NAG.
Why only look at hardware?
Applications deliver the resultstogether with the user, the application software
contains the (embedded) expert knowledge
Hardware is just an engine ...
Results Matter. Trust NAG.
Software can create a better edge
Get results faster: optimise and scale the code
Get better results: scale and enhance the code
Reduce costs: more efficient use of hardwareand also of power, datacentre, etc
Optimise business processes surrounding HPC
Results Matter. Trust NAG.
HPC: what & why?
HPC is an accelerator of computation
HPC = hardware + software + people
Enable users & business to differentiateby investing in expertise and hardware
A Research Councils UK High End Computing Service
HECToR
• Mission: enable capability science
• Provide world class supercomputer(s)– Capability usage model
• Comparable scale investment in expertise– Computational Science & Engineering (CSE)– Capability support model
Enhance capability science
• User requirements capture for HECToR identified the need for strong provision of CSE support to enhance the capability science enabled by the capability supercomputer
HistoryService Year Scientific support Technolog
y ProviderDatacentre Sysadmin
CSAR 1998-2006
U. Manchester(5 FTE + helpdesk)
SGI/Cray Manchester CSC
HPCx 2002-2010
EPCC & DL(10 FTE inc. helpdesk)
IBM DL EPCC/DL
HECToR
2007-2013*
N A G(20 FTE + helpdesk)
Cray* U. of Edinburgh
EPCC/DL
What is CSE?
• Computational Science & Engineering– i.e. the engineering & science of computation
• Parallelisation, scaling & optimisation• Algorithm development & innovation• Functional enhancements & re-factoring• Software engineering for robustness
CSE support service
• 120+ person-years• ~60% embedded in user community
– secondments to specific research groups for several months
– or staff within research group funded by HECToR for several months
– staff managed by, and part of, NAG team
Results Matter. Trust NAG.
Numerical Algorithms GroupMathematics and technology for optimized performance
Summary
Results Matter. Trust NAG.
Summary
HPC = hardware + software + expertise
Create an edge by optimising all three
HECToR supports better capability science through a strong investment in HPC
software expertise with the community
Results Matter. Trust NAG.
Numerical Algorithms GroupMathematics and technology for optimized performance
Expertise in algorithms and software engineeringDelivered as HPC services, specialist consulting & libraries
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