Critical issues remain to utilize the ASCI platforms on SBSS workloads

• Performance

  • Application/architecture mapping ? performance
    • Most efficient applications (uniform grid sPPM) get 30% of peak
    • Typical block structured applications performance ~10% of peak
    • Typical arbitrarily connected grid applications ~1-3% of peak
  • The processor speed improvements are much faster than memory speed improvements
    • The processor speed improvements are an astounding 60%/yr
    • Memory improvements: density (60%/yr), bandwidth (~10%/yr) and latency 6%/yr
  • Modern software techniques (object oriented languages) and modern data abstractions (arbitrarily connected grids) together present modern architectures pathologically poor usage patterns

• Scaling

  • Applications scaling issues poorly understood
    • What future MPI constructs are necessary?
    • Would low latency GET/PUT mechanisms be better?
  • I/O, Networking, Visualization and archival scaling critical issues

• Scheduling

  • Poor platform utilization due to lack of batch scheduling methodologies at scale
  • Limited policy options available to decision makers make for hard choices

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