SC23 Recap: A Peek Into the Exciting Future of HPC

The recent SC23 conference provided an exciting window into the future of High Performance Computing (HPC). Over 14,000 people attended the event, which showcased cutting-edge technologies and groundbreaking community endeavors. Here’s a look at how CIQ’s products and services fit into this rapidly evolving landscape.

Rocky Linux: the rising star of HPC

One of the most remarkable transformations observed at SC23 was the widespread adoption of Rocky Linux. Unlike SC22, where we often found ourselves introducing Rocky Linux, this year was a different story. Many institutions we spoke with had already seamlessly switched their hundreds or thousands of HPC nodes to it; the shift was so profound that less than a handful of visitors asked for a comparison with other distributions. Rocky Linux has evidently become a staple in the HPC community, a fact underscored by the diverse range of visitors to our booth, including a notable visitor donning a red hat!

Containerization and cluster provisioning: the new frontier

A key trend at SC23 was the growing interest in containerization of applications and the use of containers in HPC cluster imaging. This evolution in HPC practices aligns with the potential of Warewulf to surpass  traditional cluster provisioners like xCAT and ROCKS, as they lose development support. The shift towards containerized solutions is not just a trend but a pivotal move in optimizing and scaling HPC environments.

Fuzzball, Ascender, and Mountain: gaining traction

Additional interest was noted in our newer products like Mountain (automation management),  Ascender (infrastructure automation), and Fuzzball (cloud-native computing), indicating an expanding footprint in the HPC landscape. This interest reflects the community's trust in CIQ's ability to innovate and provide cutting-edge solutions.

Students showcase their talents in student cluster competition

A significant highlight was the involvement of Rocky Linux in the student cluster competition, where over half of the student teams, including the winning team, utilized Rocky Linux. We hope to sponsor a team at SC24!

Diversifying into specialized fields

The event showcased a growing bifurcation in HPC applications, especially in areas like graph analysis and AI training. The development of novel accelerators and hardware devices is booming in HPC even more so than we saw last year, a trend that CIQ is well-positioned to support.

CIQ products: the backbone of next-gen scientific advancement in HPC

At SC23, it was evident that CIQ products have become fundamental to HPC infrastructure. Conversations often revolved around our products as essential, reliable, and almost taken-for-granted components in HPC setups. This recognition is a testament to the foundational integration of our solutions in the HPC ecosystem.

We’re excited about our ability to facilitate research and scientific work, especially through tools like Apptainer, which has become a cornerstone of application deployment in HPC. This year, the emergence of Rocky Linux and Warewulf as well-known entities highlighted our impact on the scientific and research domains. A key observation was the increasing intertwining of research with the HPC community. Our products are not just supporting but becoming an integral part of this symbiotic relationship, underlining our commitment to advancing scientific research through high Performance Computing.

A milestone in HPC evolution

Overall, SC23 marked a milestone for CIQ, showcasing our growing influence in the HPC realm. Our products, once considered novel, are now fundamental components in HPC environments. 

In the world of High Performance Computing, every second counts. For institutions like Texas Tech University’s High Performance Computing Center (HPCC), maximizing research productivity is paramount, which is why the recent transformation of their HPC infrastructure, powered by CIQ, is such a significant milestone. 

To help make it easier to set up an HPC environment, we have launched the “general availability” of our custom deployment consultation services to help organizations set up their own HPC environments. We have streamlined the deployment process, tapping the capabilities of Rocky Linux and Mountain, to deliver a highly performant, scalable, and secure HPC stack that is easy to maintain and upgrade. 

At CIQ, we're passionate about helping scientists and researchers achieve their goals. Our HPC solutions offer an integrated stack that is highly scalable, flexible, and easy to deploy, providing a solid foundation for computational workloads. In addition, our next-generation HPC 2.0 platform, Fuzzball, is a cloud-native, meta-orchestration platform that seamlessly blends HPC applications with emerging workloads like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

As CIQ continues to pioneer in this field, the impact on scientific research and the evolution of HPC is palpable. SC23 has been a testament to this journey, highlighting the growing recognition and reliance on CIQ products in the world of High Performance Computing.

Reach out to us to learn more about our HPC solutions!