Scalable Computing
The CCR has a legacy of leadership in high-performance computing (HPC) at extreme scales. First-of-a-kind platforms, such as the Intel Paragon, ASCI Red (the world's first teraflops computer), and Red Storm (co-developed by Cray), helped form the basis for one of the most successful supercomputer product lines ever—the Cray XT series. The CCR continues to play an important role, working closely with HPC vendors to provide solutions for next-generation systems that meet the complex mission needs of the laboratories. Our particular interests include advanced architecture design and evaluation, including Beyond Moore capabilities, scalable system software, scalable input/output, and algorithms.
Focus Areas
Advanced Device Technologies
Despite the vast computational power available in today's extreme-scale computing systems, there are still certain types of problems for which that power is inadequate and silicon-based computing devices will likely never be able to solve. Sandia is exploring technologies necessary to enable a new paradigm of computing that goes beyond the limits of Moore's Law. Core areas of competency are post-CMOS processors, quantum information processing, simulation of solid state and quantum devices, and development of computing methods to support materials and device simulations.
Contact: Aidun, John B., jbaidun@sandia.gov.
Projects:
Computer Architecture
Our efforts in scalable computer architecture seek to explore advancements in the design and integration of processors, memory, and networks necessary to effectively deploy and use the largest parallel computing systems in the world. Core areas of competency are hardware simulation, microarchitectures, network interface design, system reliability, and energy/power analysis.
Contact: Ang, James A., jaang@sandia.gov.
Projects:
- Structural Simulation Toolkit (SST)
- Hardware/Software Codesign for Exascale Computing
- Portals Interconnect API
- Power API
- Graph Algorithms on Non-Traditional Architectures
- Parallel Scientific Computing
- Graph Partitioning and Load Balancing
- Combinatorial Scientific Computing
- Mantevo
- HPC Resource Allocation
Scalable Algorithms
Effective use of extreme-scale computing systems depends on the availability of scalable parallel algorithms. Sandia has a long history of activities in this area, with a focus on algorithms to enable parallel science and engineering simulations. Core areas of competency include dynamic load balancing for adaptive applications, iterative linear solvers, eigensolvers, and preconditioning methods.
Contact: Hoekstra, Robert J., rjhoeks@sandia.gov.
Projects:
- FASTMath
- E3SM - Energy Exascale Earth System Model
- Aeras: A Next Generation Global Atmosphere Model
- Structural Simulation Toolkit (SST)
- Hardware/Software Codesign for Exascale Computing
- Trilinos
- Graph Rigidity and Molecular Conformation
- Parallel Linear Algebra
- Support Theory for Preconditioning
- Spectral Graph Algorithms
- Sparse Matrix Reorderings
- Parallel Scientific Computing
- Graph Partitioning and Load Balancing
- Combinatorial Scientific Computing
- Mantevo
- IDEAS
- Decaf - High-Performance Decoupling of Tightly Coupled Data Flows
- SIRIUS: Science-driven Data Management for Multi-tiered Storage
- XVis
- HPC Resource Allocation
- Kokkos
- Zoltan
- MapReduce-MPI
System Software
System software research and development activities provide the software foundation that enables the scaling and performance of applications to unprecedented levels. Sandia has performed pioneering work in lightweight operating system and scalable runtime systems for some of the world's largest computing platforms. Core areas of competency are lightweight operating systems, multi-threaded runtime systems, high-performance interconnect APIs, parallel I/O and file systems, and scalable system management infrastructure software.
Contact: Brightwell, Ronald B., rbbrigh@sandia.gov.
Projects:
- Structural Simulation Toolkit (SST)
- Hardware/Software Codesign for Exascale Computing
- Hobbes - Extreme-Scale Operating Systems Project
- XPRESS - eXascale Programming Environment and System Software
- Portals Interconnect API
- Kitten Lightweight Kernel
- Power API
- Combinatorial Scientific Computing
- Mantevo
- Decaf - High-Performance Decoupling of Tightly Coupled Data Flows
- SIRIUS: Science-driven Data Management for Multi-tiered Storage
- HPC Resource Allocation
- MapReduce-MPI