High-performance computing experts from across the globe recently packed their bags and made their way to Dallas, Texas, to attend SC22 – the world’s largest supercomputing convention. PRACE, as always, was there with a crack team of representatives to make the most of this unique annual opportunity for collaboration, learning, and an American-sized portion of fun!
Everything is bigger in Texas. So the saying goes, and SC22 in Dallas was no exception. The PRACE team attended the biggest supercomputing convention in the world, which was held at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, where 11 830 users and creators of high-performance computers gathered to find out the latest developments in hardware, software and ideas in the field of advance computing.
The theme for this year’s event was “HPC accelerates”. In a rapidly changing world, complex challenges are suddenly arising alongside an urgent demand for answers. By leveraging HPC, skilled minds can employ innovative technologies to respond to the call — driven by data, simulating possibilities, and unlocking new solutions. The SC crowd is unleashing a deeper understanding of our world at an unprecedented pace, and we were able to witness some of the work that has been done by our community over the past year.
PRACE celebrates a powerful legacy
As well as the usual meetings with other centres from across the world to foster closer ties and collaborations, one of the reasons for us being at SC22 this year was to celebrate our legacy of all that we have achieved since the very inception of PRACE. Our booth this year looked back at some of our crowning achievements and showcased some of the most successful research we have supported.
The TOP500 Award Ceremony
One of the most highly anticipated sessions of this convention each year is the Top500 Award Ceremony, where accolades are given out to supercomputers around the world and their rank within the global context is announced.
European supercomputers shone brightly this year, picking up several accolades. Two European machines cemented impressive positions in the top five most powerful computers in the world, with Finland’s Lumi retaining its spot at number three and Italy’s Leonardo system the only new machine to break into the top 10, coming in at number four.
The European HPC Ecosystem Summit
While the TOP500 Award Ceremony was taking place, another high-level session was also happening. The European HPC Ecosystem Summit brought together representatives from across Europe to hear about how the European HPC landscape has evolved over the past years, and where it is now heading.
In 2018, PRACE engaged in the coordination of several European HPC activities, including access to HPC systems, user support, training, policy, technology, operations and dissemination. These initiatives led to the development of the HPC in Europe Portal , a mechanism to structure and present European HPC services.
Since then, the European HPC strategy has undergone several big changes, with the entry of the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (JU) and new coordination actors. This Birds of a Feather session discussed all of these topics, with presentations from PRACE’s Operations Director Florian Berberich, Oriol Pineda of the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, and Sophia Honisch of the EuroCC and CASTIEL projects.
New organisation IASC promises closer collaboration between supercomputing centres
A newly formed organisation – the International Association of Supercomputing Centres (IASC) – held a session at this year’s SC22, bringing together heads of centres from across the world to discuss how closer collaboration could work for the benefit of all. Formed in June 2022, the IASC is a worldwide consortium of public-facing advanced computing user facilities sharing knowledge and know-how on their operations, management, and strategy.
The concept of IASC was started over a year ago, coming about from conversations among colleagues and friends working in supercomputing centres. Although the relationships between them had been beneficial in terms of talking over various technical issues, there was little formalisation in the way they were communicating. Eventually, it was suggested that the monthly informal chats that were occurring might be better done in a more structured manner to help each other move forwards in addressing common issues.
The session covered several topics that the IASC believe could be addressed better through improved collaboration, including NetZero, open-source software, quantum computing in HPC centres, cloud strategy, and issues around staffing and training.
See you next year!
We had the chance to chat to so many people from different walks of life and careers over the course of the conference, and have come away teeming with new ideas and insights. A big thanks to all who came and made it such a special event, and we hope you are all planning to come back next year!
