2005
High-End Computing
Market Directions
(Based on
SC2004 Audience)
By
Executive
Summary
High-End Computing (HEC) is a diverse market with contributions from immensely different providers. HECMS has completed a study of 122 qualified personnel representing Supercomputing from various parts of the world. The information contained in the 2,400 question responses clearly portrays 2005 HEC market directions.
At the core of all computing is the central processing unit (CPU). The CPU defines the base of what can be accomplished with the computing resource. The correct CPU is a critical component to any high performance application. Low cost 64-bit CPU’s have moved the price for performance mark even lower. In the quest for Giga-, Tera-, and Peta-FLOPS, respondents from SC2004 have named one 64-bit capable CPU over all others and it is not from Intel. The AMD Opteron is the most popular for computing purchases in 2005. In the commercial, government, and academic industry sectors, the AMD Opteron was the preferred CPU by a near two to one margin over the Intel Itanium. The market segments mirror the same results, with the Opteron leading the Itanium by a close to one-and-a-half to one margin.
From its roots as a small and obscure operating system on the Internet, Linux has grown to become the pinnacle of dominance in HEC. Supercomputing conference respondents named Linux, in its variety of forms, as the number one operating system of choice by a near two to one margin over proprietary versions of UNIX. The academic and commercial use of Linux is closer to a three to one margin, while the government has been slower to accept the operating system. Linux is efficient in making budgets work and completing research. Available in many forms, Linux has triumphed over all other operating systems to become a foundation in HEC.
Information is just information unless it can travel quickly and reliably from one point to another. Proprietary Interconnect technology, once the stronghold in supercomputing, has found its match. New technologies like Infiniband and 10G Ethernet are finding their way into HEC installations. Four different Infiniband vendors are named by the SC2004 conference attendees. Infiniband is here and it is being implemented in HEC environments requiring intense data communications and it is growing. Proprietary interconnects, however, are projected to have a smaller role in 2005. The largest growing variety of interconnect for 2005 is 10G Ethernet. More prevalent in the government sector, 10G Ethernet is providing a vital backbone for data intense computations.
Inexpensive, fast, and available, clusters have brought a level of price-performance and scalability previously unseen in HEC. Low-cost clusters have given start-up HEC institutions computing power once only available to high-budget sites. Almost every SC2004 respondent mentioned a desire and plan to implement cluster computing. Their most popular vendors were Dell and IBM. IBM had a major deficit with those who had not attended supercomputing in the past, while Dell was universally popular with attendees.
The force of grid computing is growing with grants made available by the National Science Foundation. Fueling this growth are toolkits from Sun and Platform. Linux is the clear operating system of choice for grid computing. Sixty percent of the SC2004 respondents chose Linux as their operating system for grid computing. The evolution of grid computing is far from finished, new tools are being developed and it will certainly have an effect on the future of high-end computing.
Respondent Demographics
Industry Sector Breakout
The 122 qualified responses in this study are classified into 3 Industry Sectors; Academic, Commercial and Government. The Government sector accounts for 52 studies, the Academic sector represents 45 studies and the Commercial sector has 25 studies. This exceptional cross of respondents is aligns well to the audience in attendance at SC2004. While SC draws its roots from the Government and Academic base, the Commercial influence attracted to the conference provides a good representational balance.
Geographic Breakout
The
data in this study comes from 3 geographic areas;
Purchase Decision Level of Sign-off Influence
Respondents to this study are pre-qualified and in positions with the ability to influence the computer purchase process. Four purchase influence level categories represent all the respondents. From the response level of Full Sign-off Authority there are 12 respondents for 10% of the total. 31 people (25%) of the total respondents stated they are part of the team with purchase order Sign-Off Power. 52 people (43%) responded they are part of the Team Making Final Recommendation to the purchase. The remaining 27 respondents (22%) stated they were part of the team Making Final Technical Recommendations to the purchasing process.
