Supercomputers: Directions In Technology, Architecture, And Applications

Larry Smarr, in Proceedings of Supercomputing ’98 in Mannheim, Germany (1998).

Abstract

By using the results of the Top 500 listing over the last five years, one can easily trace out the complete transformation of the U.S. supercomputer industry. In 1993, none of the Top500 machines was made by a broadly based market-driven company, while today over 3/4 of the Top500 are made by SGI, IBM, HP, or Sun. Similarly, vector architectures have been replaced in market share by microprocessor-based SMPs. We now see a strong move to replace many MPPs and SMPs by the new architecture of Distributed Shared Memory (DSM) such as the SGI Origin or HP SPP series. A key trend is the move toward clusters of SMP/DSMs instead of monolithic MPPs. The next major change will be the emergence of Intel processors replacing RISC processors, particularly the Intel Merced processor which should become dominant shortly after 2000. A major battle will then shape up between UNIX and Microsoft’s NT operating systems, particularly at the lower end of the Top500. Finally, with each new architecture comes a new set of applications we can now attack. I will discuss how DSM will enable dynamic load balancing needed to support the multi-scale problems that teraflop machines will enable us to tackle.