The University Of New Mexico
Principal Investigators
Susan R. Atlas, AHPCC and Physics & Astronomy
David A. Bader, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Robert A. Ballance, AHPCC1, AHPCC and Computer Science
Thomas P. Caudell, Electrical & Computer Engineering
Brian T. Smith, AHPCC and Computer Science
John S. Sobolewski, CIRT, AHPCC, and Electrical & Computer Engineering
Co-Investigators
Paul Alsing, AHPCC and Physics & Astronomy
John Barnes, AHPCC
John Greenfield, AHPCC and Electrical & Computer Engineering
Marc Ingber, Mechanical Engineering
Steve Karwoski, MHPCC
Patricia Kovatch, AHPCC
Arthur B. Maccabe, Computer Science
Mitch Murphy, MHPCC
Andy Pineda, AHPCC
Ken Summers, AHPCC and Computer Science
December 1, 1999
This document represents a research statement of the planned work for an IBM for a SUR award to investigate, evaluate, and enhance the interoperability of hybrid computational and visualization platforms while exploring both numerically and data intensive operations. The hybrid platforms will combine IBM hardware with open operating systems (Linux-based systems) to provide a unique research environment. The research environment is based on two major IBM computing platforms: a Power3 SP (Winterhawk-II nodes) supporting an IBM Scalable Graphics Engine; and a Netfinity cluster with two high performance interconnections among the nodes, to the SP2, and to one of UNM's production Linux SuperCluster machines. The accompanying research includes active collaboration with members of IBM's research laboratories and concentrates on the integrated interoperability and performance of the two platforms to perform scientific computation and visualization, emphasizing applications with large computational, visualization, or data management aspects.The award is given to the High-Performance Computing, Education, and Research Center (HPCERC) of the University of New Mexico. The Albuquerque High Performance Computing Center (AHPCC) and the Maui High-Performance Computing Center (MHPCC) are both centers of HPCERC.
This project seeks to develop and investigate a multi-technology environment that is hybrid in its networking, storage, operating systems, programming and computing platforms, and seeks to address issues of interoperability so as to create a productive environment for scientific and visual computing. The overall project objective is to integrate heterogeneous information systems into a workable solution that may usefully be replicated at other IBM science and technology sites and to potentially identify new commercial opportunities for the comprising IBM hardware and software. It is anticipated that the resulting composite of public domain software, commercial software, commodity hardware, and high-end, specialized hardware would become a leading center for the investigation of hybrid technologies to solve a wide array of computational science applications, which would serve to highlight IBM's diverse product technologies working seamlessly and effectively and strengthen IBM's perceived commitment to friendly engagement with open standards and public domain systems. To this end, UNM researchers, in collaboration with researchers at Sandia National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory and IBM Research, plan to develop and port a number of computational applications to this computing environment and to investigate real scientific problems in areas which include the biophysics of protein folding, the quantum mechanics of materials engineering, the dynamics of atom-ion collisions, the physics of multiphase flows, and the data mining and optimization of workloads in high performance computing. The UNM team further seeks to investigate the problem of concurrent, distributed visualization of data intensive applications using IBM hardware, including the Scalable Graphics Engine(SGE), an IBM Research prototype technology. Results from this investigation should prove invaluable to other IBM high technology customers, especially those concerned with nuclear energy and defense. UNM also plans to connect this composite technology to one of its existing Linux Superclusters or to the RoadRunner Linux Supercluster - a shared resource on the National Computational Grid - to demonstrate complete interoperability in Next Generation Internet applications such as portal-based supercomputing, remote graphics delivery and rendering, and Internet multicasting for scientific collaboration. Using software developed for the SGE and hardware/software currently used by UNM for connectivity to the National Computational Science Alliance (NCSA) Access Grid, high resolution graphical data would be shared in real-time with other scientific institutions throughout the country. In short, the planned hybrid environment would function to prototype an integrated "spectrum of services", ranging from relatively few local clients to potentially numerous web-connected systems that would highlight the use of clusters supporting and working in concert with the IBM SP and its attached graphics and storage systems.
The system will evolve in stages as determined by product availability.
PHASE 1: This phase would involve the construction of a 32 processor Gigabit Ethernet Linux Cluster using PCI based adapters. This phase would seek to study processor and network performance, interoperability with the Linux Supercluster machines via an SP Switch Router, and would initiate a comparison study of distributed visualization using software rendering versus hardware accelerated rendering.
PHASE 2: This phase commences with the installation of an SP Winterhawk-II system and attachment of SGEs to the Trailblazer switch at both MHPCC and AHPCC. At this point, issues such as workload characterization, scheduling, remote access, hybrid programming, and parallel I/O performance would be investigated. Scientific applications would be ported to exploit the mixed-mode parallelism and the capability for doing large-scale computation and concurrent, immersive visualization to steer and track, using both the SGE and the cluster, would be developed.
PHASE 3: Finally, the entire system would be migrated, as much as possible, toward complete MPI interoperability through switch-attached interconnection and the HPGN. Issues such as remote visualization, web-based access and applications, would round out this technically challenging award.