1. Results Matter. Trust NAG. Numerical Algorithms Group Mathematics and technology for optimized performance Andrew Jones IDC HPC User Forum, Imperial College London, 16 Oct 2008 Creating an edge with HPC

2. 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 edge by optimising your use of HPC facilities

3. Results Matter. Trust NAG. An edge? Look to differentiate Do something faster/better/cheaper than your competitors

4. 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

5. Results Matter. Trust NAG. More powerful HPC? Faster (more?) hardware Use dense FLOPS: GPU’s, accelerators, etc

6. 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

7. Results Matter. Trust NAG. Why only look at hardware? Applications deliver the results together with the user, the application software contains the (embedded) expert knowledge Hardware is just an engine...

8. 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 hardware and also of power, datacentre, etc Optimise business processes surrounding HPC

9. Results Matter. Trust NAG. HPC: what & why? HPC is an accelerator of computation HPC = hardware + software + people Enable users & business to differentiate by investing in expertise and hardware

10. A Research Councils UK High End Computing Service

11. 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

12. 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

13. History ServiceYearScientific supportTechnology Provider DatacentreSysadmin CSAR1998 - 2006 U. Manchester (5 FTE + helpdesk) SGI/CrayManchesterCSC HPCx2002 - 2010 EPCC & DL (10 FTE inc. helpdesk) IBMDLEPCC/DL HECToR2007 - 2013 * N A G (20 FTE + helpdesk) Cray*U. of Edinburgh EPCC/DL

14. 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

15. 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

16. Results Matter. Trust NAG. Numerical Algorithms Group Mathematics and technology for optimized performance Summary

17. 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

18. Results Matter. Trust NAG. Numerical Algorithms Group Mathematics and technology for optimized performance Expertise in algorithms and software engineering Delivered as HPC services, specialist consulting & libraries End