Big Ideas. Simplified.
Join the OrionX team and guests in lively discussions of Big Ideas in Tech, covering trends and products that can impact your investment decisions and change the technology options you consider.
HPC, AI
Join Shahin Khan and Doug Black, insideHPC’s editor-in-chief, in their weekly discussion of key technology trends that drive high performance computing and artificial intelligence.
Podcasts
OrionX Download Podcast: Fintech Update, CryptoSuper500, CBDC, NFT, DeFi, Regulations
The OrionX Download podcast is back with a new episode on the latest in Fintech and Crypto with Shahin Khan and Stephen Perrenod. From Stephen’s newly released CryptoSuper500 report to the latest on CBDCs, NFTs, DeFi, and regulations, the team offers the same realistic perspective and analysis that have made previous episodes so popular.
@HPCpodcast-33: Equity-Diversity-Inclusion in HPC
Our special guest today is Melyssa Fratkin, Industrial Programs Director at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), who also co-chairs Texas Women in HPC with Carolyn Devany, Executive Chair at Data Vortex Technologies. Following her excellent talk at the Dell HPC Community meeting in Austin last week, we caught up with Melyssa to discuss the state of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in HPC and her recommendations on how to accelerate progress in this important area. We ask lots of questions and cover lots of topics, including why this is such a hard problem, the burden of being a pioneer, the impact of political environments and changing laws, how to post jobs that attract a diverse set of candidates, why you need support from the top and across the organization, and more. Join us!
@HPCpodcast-32: The Role of Marketing in HPC
One of the most recognized names in strategic marketing and communications in HPC, and an “SC Perennial“, special guest Mike Bernhardt joins Doug and Shahin to discuss the important role that the marketing function plays in HPC. A lot has changed in HPC and a lot has changed in marketing. What should smart organizations do to improve their market presence and build a loyal customer base?
@HPCpodcast-31: ASML Export Control, HPC Software Stack
Following reports that ASML is under diplomatic pressure to regulate the export of its fabrication equipment to China, we discuss market data, other suppliers of fab equipment, and a quick view of some of ASML’s own suppliers. Also covered are the differences between the approach to Exascale in China and the US based on recent research by Hyperion. We end the episode by setting up the vast universe that is the modern HPC software stack as we prepare to cover it systematically over several episodes. We welcome suggestions for guests who can shed light on the state of software in specific layers.
@HPCpodcast-30: DOE RFI with Horst Simon, from System to Ecosystem
Following the Request for Information (RFI) issued last week by the DOE, we caught up with Dr. Horst Simon, Special Advisor to the Laboratory Director at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and co-editor of the TOP500 list since 2000, to take us through how the DOE is gearing up to go beyond Exascale. A very insightful conversation touching on many aspects of what’s next!
@HPCpodcast-29: Up Close and Personal with Frontier, and What Lies Beyond
The HPC User Forum held a special event at Oak Ridge National Laboratory last week, complete with an opportunity to get a viewing of the facilities (not quite a tour) and discussions of Exascale Computing and beyond. Doug Black was on the scene and we discuss what all went down. Of special note is the staffing challenges of HPC sites, and the brewing strategy about how future leadership computing systems would look like. This is an important topic that we have covered with our guests in previous episodes and some patterns are emerging as we continue to analyze the future of supercomputing hardware and software.
@HPCpodcast-28: LaMDA and AI Sentience, Crypto Price Collapse
The conversational AI, LaMDA seems to represent a significant advance in AI, bringing up discussions of AI sentience, consciousness, and personhood. It also underscores the urgency of thoughtful social policies based on ethical and legal frameworks. Also discussed is the state of Crypto and NFT: cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens. Should we look at them as technologies that might find valid use cases, investment vehicles that require close scrutiny, or both? These are very important topics in our times.
@HPCpodcast-27: Thomas Sterling, The State of HPC
Following his always-anticipated and always-insightful closing keynote at the recent ISC conference, we caught up with Prof. Thomas Sterling to discuss the state of HPC. Dr. Sterling is Professor of Intelligent Systems Engineering at the Indiana University (IU) School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, and President and Co-founder of Simultac, a technology company focused on non-von-Neumann memory-based system architectures. Since receiving his Ph.D from MIT as a Hertz Fellowm Dr. Sterling has been a pioneer of parallel processing systems in HPC. His many achievements include the creation in 1994 of the “Beowulf cluster” with Donald Becker at NASA, a system that helped drive the scale-out computing architecture.
Here are the topics and the time-stamp in the podcast when they are discussed:
- 01:23 Supercomputing “Race”
- 04:15 HPC in Society
- 06:40 Climate Change, Controlled Fusion
- 09:00 HPC’s Role in Informing or Helping Set Social Policy
- 10:37 Machine Intelligence
- 15:50 Future of HPC
- 22:25 Beowulf Bash story
- 25:07 Getting into Parallel Processing
- 28:10 Skill-set, Workforce, Software, Accessibility
- 31:09 Performing at the Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center
- 34:68 Leonard Bernstein
- 35:30 ISC22 Closing Keynote
@HPCpodcast-26: ISC22 Postview: Frontier, Covid, Vendors, Students
ISC22, the annual International Supercomputing Conference was held last week in Hamburg, Germany, meeting in person after two years. This is a “postview” of the notable developments at this news-rich event.
@HPCpodcast-34: CXL, CHIPS Act
After several years of experimentation and various consortia, CXL is emerging as the standard for advanced functionality for fabric technologies. We also discuss some of the details of the CHIPS and Science Act that was recently passed in the US.