Prelude to GTC 2013: GPUs Are Not Just for Pretty Visuals
The GPU was initially conceived as a device to boost visualization, but it has evolved so much beyond its origin that the term graphics processor seems like a misnomer. Today, GPUs are a big part of parallel computing, also called high-performance computing (HPC). They’re fueling large-scale simulation, analysis, and number crunching in scientific research, space exploration, weather prediction, and more. At the upcoming GPU Technology Conference (GTC), NVIDIA plans to expose many other use of the GPU beside producing pretty visuals with dense pixels. (Note: DE is a media partner of GTC.) Continue reading
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Dell Gets Ready to Go Private: What Does it Mean for Professional Workstation Users?
The PC market is dominated by just a handful of major players. It’s literally a single hand, as five brands — Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer, and ASUS — account for 58.9% market share (“Gartner and IDC: PC shipments tumbled…,” October 10, 2012, engadget). The rest is made up by specialty brands. Naturally, in such a tight market, a major strategy shift by one of the Big Five is bound to produce ripple effects.
Last week, publicly traded Dell began taking steps to go private — an option the company’s founder, chairman, and CEO Michael Dell described as “an exciting new chapter for Dell” in a press release. According to the company, Dell has “signed a definitive merger agreement under which Michael Dell, … in partnership with global technology investment firm Silver Lake, will acquire Dell” in a $24.4 billion transaction. Continue reading
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Altair Gets Ready for HTC 2012
So an astronaut, a designer, and an analyst walk into a hotel.
It’s not a joke. It’s a scenario that would come to pass in the Marriott at the Renaissance in Detroit, Michigan. That’s the site of Altair Engineering‘s HyperWorks Technology Conference (HTC) 2012, scheduled for May 15-17. The astronaut is T.K. Mattingly, the retired astronaut who once flew on Apollo 16, STS-4, and STS-51-C missions. The designer is Luca Pignacca, chief designer at Dallara Automobili. The analyst is Marc Halpern, VP of research, Gartner. They’re all keynote speakers who have signed on to appear at HTC 2012. The will join Altair’s Chairman and CEO Jim Scapa on stage. Continue reading
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Intel Knights Preparing for Parallel Battle
CPU maker Intel‘s new architecture, dubbed Knights Corner, represents the move from multicore (two, four, six, eight …) to many integrated cores (MIC, more than 50 Intel processing cores on a single chip).
Intel describes MIC as a coprocessor, a power-booster to the central processor. The new product is expected to be a serious contender in the high performance computing (HPC) market, where graphics coprocessors (GPUs) have been grabbing market shares because of their parallel computing capability. What distinguishes Intel’s MIC from graphics coprocessors may be its programming environment. Continue reading
SC11: Evolving From Multicore to Many Core Computing
The simplest way to create a supercomputer is to consolidate a bunch of computers into a cluster, producing what’s generally known as a high-performance computing (HPC) system. Clusters are the best approach (in some cases, the only approach) to tackling complex engineering problems. like digitally simulating the airflow around a jet engine. As digital simulation becomes standard practice in design and engineering, the need for HPC grows. This week, people who make a living studying and putting together HPC systems are gathering in Seattle, Washington, for the annual Supercomputing show (SC11).
The Pacific Northwest port city is currently blanketed in gray clouds and showers, so attendees would probably forgo plans to go sightseeing around the Pike Place Market and Pioneer Square. Instead, they’re expected to huddle indoor under the roof of Washington State Convention Center, networking as they discuss the future of HPC networks. Continue reading
