High-performance computing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
High-performance computing (HPC) uses supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computing problems. Usually, computer systems approaching the teraflops-region are counted as HPC-computers.
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[edit] Overview
The term is most commonly associated with computing used for scientific research. A related term, High-performance technical computing (HPTC), generally refers to the engineering applications of cluster-based computing (such as computational fluid dynamics and the building and testing of virtual prototypes). Recently, HPC has come to be applied to business uses of cluster-based supercomputers, such as data warehouses, line-of-business (LOB) applications and transaction processing.
High-performance computing (HPC) is a term that arose after the term "supercomputing." HPC is sometimes used as a synonym for supercomputing; but in other contexts, "supercomputer" is used to refer to a more powerful subset of "high performance computers," and the term "supercomputing" becomes a subset of "high performance computing." The potentially confusing overlap of these usages is apparent.
[edit] Evolving the "HPC" concept
It should be noted that there is an evolution that is happening with regards to the nomenclature surrounding the "HPC" acronym. The ‘old’ definition of HPC, High Performance Computing, was the natural semantic evolution of the 'supercomputing' market, referring to the expanded and diverse range of platforms, from scalable high-end systems to commodity clusters, blade servers and of course the traditional vector supercomputers used to attack the most complex data- and computational-intensive applications. A key trend that is currently taking root is the shift in focus towards productivity – or more precisely, how systems and technology are applied. This encompasses everything in the HPC ecosystem, from the development environment, to systems and storage, to the use and interoperability of applications, to the total user experience – all combined to address and solve real world problems.
The more current and evolving definition of HPC refers to High Productivity Computing, and reflects the purpose and use model of the myriad existing and evolving architectures, and the supporting ecosystem of software, middleware, storage, networking and tools behind the next generation of applications.
[edit] Top 500
The most powerful high performance computers can be found on the TOP500 list. The TOP500 list (which consists of the 500 most powerful publicly acknowledged computing systems of any kind in the world) is updated twice a year, once in June at the ISC European Supercomputing Conference and again at a US Supercomputing Conference in November.
Many ideas for the new wave of grid computing were originally borrowed from HPC.
[edit] See also
- Interconnect Driven Server
- High-performance technical computing
- Distributed computing
- Parallel computing
- Quantum computing
- Metacomputing
- Supercomputer
- Grand Challenge
- Open problems in high performance computing
[edit] External links
- Top 500 supercomputers
- HPCwire.com Leading Source for Global News and Information Covering the Ecosystem of High Productivity Computing
- OpenSolarisHPC OpenSolaris in High Performance Computing
- High Performance Computing (HPC) NVIDIA Tesla Technology
- LinuxHPC.org Linux High Performance Computing and Clustering Portal
- WinHPC.org Windows High Performance Computing and Clustering Portal
- Cluster Builder
- Rocks Clusters Open-Source High Performance Linux Clusters
- Infiscale Cluster Portal. Free GPL HPC Solutions
- Dell High Performance Computing Center
- Sun Grid Engine open source batch-queuing system, supported by Sun Microsystems
- Sun HPC Community PortalInformation sharing and collaboration on HPC related topics
- TORQUE Resource Manager
- Project Kusu GPLv2.0 HPC Cluster Toolkit
- Degree Project about best alternatives to implement HPC Cluster
- SuperComputingOnline.com Homepage for the World′s High-Performance Computing, Networking & Storage Professionals
- HPCCommunity.org HPC Community Discussion for various High Performance Computing related Projects
