High Performance Computers Become Interactive

By DE Editors

An M.I.T.-born start-up called Interactive Supercomputing(ISC; Waltham, MA) has unveiled a new class of technical computingsoftware that effectively transforms parallel supercomputers intointeractive desktop tools for rapidly solving large scientific andengineering problems.

ISC says its Star-P is the world’s first interactive parallel computingplatform. It enables scientists and engineers to code algorithms andmodels on their desktops using familiar mathematical software packagessuch as MathWorks’ MATLAB, and run them instantly and interactively onSGI Altix servers. Star-P eliminates the need to reprogram theapplications in C, Fortran, or MPI to run on parallel computers, savingpotentially months to years for computer-intensive problems.

Star-P automatically connects desktop applications to HPCs andparallelizes the application code on the fly, enabling users to scaletheir applications across any multiprocessor system or parallel clusterin real time.

Researchers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital are using Star-Pto analyze MRI examinations for quantifying the impact of cancertherapy on blood volume and flow in the developing brain of children.Geophysicists at the University of California San Diego are usingStar-P to develop more accurate models for predicting earthquakehazards. And researchers at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base inconjunction with the Ohio Supercomputer Center are using Star-P in avariety of defense-related applications including new radar systemdevelopment.

Star-P can also be useful to project leaders, whose primary concern isaccelerating the time to market of new products while cuttingdevelopment costs. Star-P can also benefit infrastructure leaders whoprovide HPC systems as an internal or external resource. Star-P enablesthem to extend parallel computing capabilities to a wider range ofusers, while increasing the return on their HPC investment.

The platform comes at a time when many desktop workstations can nolonger handle the computational requirements of new mathematical modelsand algorithms. Yet very few commercial software applications are ableto run at all on parallel computing architectures, let aloneinteractively. Star-P means researchers won’t have to stop theirworkflow, re-code applications, test the application on supercomputersin batch mode, and then refine their work.

Star-P 2.0 extends desktop MATLAB applications to high-performancecomputers, with plans to support other leading interactive desktoptools, such as Mathematica, Maple, and Python in the near future.Star-P runs on SGI Altix servers supporting from one to 512 processors,24 terabytes of memory, and running 64-bit Linux. Star-P will bemarketed through Silicon Graphics Inc.‘s direct and indirect salesforce.

For more information, visit interactivesupercomputing.com.