Future of Supercomputer Centers: an evolutionary ecology view

Craig StewartExecutive Director, Indiana University Pervasive Technology

InstituteAssociate Dean, Research Technologies

stewart@iu.eduPresented as part of panel “Future of Supercomputing Centers” at

SC10, New Orleans, LA, 19 November 2010. Panel organized by Thom Dunning, NCSA

Citation and license terms:

• Please cite as:- Stewart, C.A. 2010. Future of Supercomputer

Centers: an evolutionary ecology view. Presentation as part of panel “Future of Supercomputing Centers,” SC10, New Orleans, LA, 19 Nov, organized by Thom Dunning, NCSA. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/2022/9918

• This slide show is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 unported license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

Diversity and ecosystem stability

• Shannon Weaver index of biodiversity

• In general, ecosystem stability goes up as biodiversity goes up

• Of course, human affairs are different, since recent years have shown us that economies and efficiencies of scale and the wisdom of markets make all this sort of thinking out of date as regards human activities

• ….or maybe not so much

If you think of supercomputing centers as an ecosystem• It seems clear that supercomputer center

diversity is currently going down over time• The biggest centers (at least as viewed from the

outside) seem to be doing reasonably well• Smaller centers (newer centers, or smaller

centers at colleges) are cropping up and sometimes doing very well

• The segment of the community that seems to be struggling most is the state-level center

• Our supercomputer ecosystem is not as diverse and therefore not as stable as it once was and we should as a community work to restore diversity

We should mind the lesson of Irish Elk

From: Atiridor http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Irish_Elk_Side.jpg Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Lessons from evolution about ephemeral food sources

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gogail/3337277272/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Brine shrimp illustration by Jennifer Fairmanhttp://fairmanstudios.com/

In supercomputing, ephemeral salary resources….

• Transform scientific programmers to generic commercial programmers, and talent is lost to the HPC community – often permanently

• And decrease attractiveness of scientific computing as a career (what Thanksgiving?)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonrolfe/1524495477/sizes/l/

Recommendations• Supercomputer centers

- Need to diversify more and think of ourselves as more than just supercomputer centers (PTI is trying to do that)

- Constantly make the case to our campuses and states- Constantly work with our tech transfer organizations to create real

economic benefit- Find ways to add distinctive value in era of cloud computing

• Campuses and States- Must continue investing in their local centers

• Funding agencies- Should pursue strategies in funding that provide longer term reliable

financial resources- Fund more kinds of centers than supercomputer centers

• Everyone- Needs to recognize that the US needs a balanced and diverse

ecosystem of supercomputer and related centers and doing this requires better long-term support for the people who enable these centers to function

Acknowledgments and disclaimer• The Indiana Pervasive Technology

Institute is supported in part by a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment.

• Thanks to the faculty, staff, and students of the Pervasive Technology Institute and the staff of the Research Technologies Divisions of University Information Technology Services

• Any opinions presented in these slides are strictly those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of any funding agency anywhere.