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Intel Helps Developers With Multi-Threaded Software Community

editor — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:53:44 +0000

In this podcast, The Register’s Tim Phillips speaks with Intel’s Shesha Krishnapura about developers’ adoption of multi-core technology. Krishnapura sees that, while multi-core processors have been around for awhile, now is an especially exciting time for multi-threaded software, given the uptake in industry and the increasingly urgent need for the software that will help to realize the higher performance potential of multi-core. Intel is leading the effort to adopt with key software packages and developer tools that make it easier to write multi-threaded code.

To find out what Intel is doing for the community, check out the community site, “Threading for Multi-Core Developer Community.” There, Intel and the community share tools and expertise with featured articles, threading analysis tools, industry benchmarks, training, and access to Intel developers and experts, for training and best practices information.

Krishnapura is a principal engineer in the Intel Platform and Design Capability Engineering group, driving the internal engineering of High Performance Computing solutions optimized for Tapeout and Design Computing. As an architect of Intel Architecture migration program for Electronic Design Automation, Shesha is responsible for enabling IA-based optimization and adoption in EDA market by enabling application vendors and strategically influencing world-wide semiconductor customers for best-in-class design compute solutions.

Tags: Tim Phillips, Shesha Krishnapura, multi-core processors, multi-threaded software, multi-threaded code, threading analysis, High Performance Computing, Tapeout, Design Computing, Intel Architecture, Electronic Design Automation, IA, optimization, HPC, Intel, VTune, Threading Analysis, Intel Performance Libraries, Intel Threading Building Blocks, EDA

Intel Lowers Energy Costs for High Performance Computing

editor — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:00:04 +0000

The current uptake in high performance computing means mostly good things, but it also comes with a few built-in challenges. The paradox of this particular progress is this: when you scale hardware, you oftentimes scale power consumption, right along with it. That’s where Intel’s Shesha Krishnapura has some good news to share, in this podcast speaking with The Register’s Tim Phillips. Says Krishnapura, “In the past, that power relationship has existed. But with Intel’s core microarchitecture platform, the power holds constant while performance climbs.”

Intel is working to improve the performance-per-watt characteristics of HPC systems. The effort is important, as Xeon-based servers dominate the Top 500 supercomputers list and the clusters used by businesses for their most demanding jobs.

Fist of all, Intel’s throughput-per-rack measurement helps illustrate the point when Intel 45nm-based quad-core processors run at similar power levels as dual-core processors, while offering twice the number of processing cores per server. Add Intel’s switch to higher density memory like 4GB memory modules instead of 2GB modules — the 4GB run at similar power envelope — and it’s clear where Intel is holding a fairly stable power envelope and still seen what Krishnapura calls, “a substantial performance increase, year after year.”

Tags: Shesha Krishnapura, Tim Phillips, Xeon, servers, 45nm, High Performance Computing, Tapeout, Design Computing, Intel Architecture, Electronic Design Automation, IA, optimization, HPC, Intel, VTune, Threading Analysis, Intel Performance Libraries, Intel Threading Building Blocks, EDA

SNWSpotlight: High Performance Computing, Green Data Center

Paul Lancour — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:30:25 +0000

In this podcast, we hear about a new development in the high performance computing market from Raj Das of SGI and Greg Schulz, analyst with The StorageIO Group, weighs in on the “green gap” in the data center.

SNWSpotlight is your source for the latest information from Storage Networking World. It’s brought to you by LSI.

Tags: Raj Das, SGI, Greg Schulz, green IT, Storage Networking World, LSI, high performance computing, SNWSpotlight, data center

Voices of Shanghai: IDF 2008

Jason Lopez — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:13:28 +0000

This year’s Spring IDF, in Shanghai, brought the global community of Intel developers to one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, to discuss one of the most rapidly-changing technologies, and the incredible impact that all of that change is bound to have. Intel Senior Vice President and General Manager for the Digital Enterprise Group, Pat Gelsinger, referred to Intel’s efforts broadly as “architecture for life.” If it sounds ambitious, it is.

The speed of change in the software world is daunting. In his own keynote, SVP and General Manager of the Ultra Mobility Group at Intel, Anand Chandrasekher, noted that everyone is trying to “unleash the Internet, unwire it, and make it go mobile.” Again, the words sound almost obvious, like common sense. They’re not.

It’s true that Intel specializes in bringing incredible advancements to technology on a tick-tock product development schedule that allows industries to grow and thrive. You can see in the matter of weeks and months that Intel’s efforts go from being rumor to being confirmed technological advances (like the recent Dunnington news) that the world is watching itself change in real time. It’s true that a lot of time at IDF in Shanghai was devoted to presentations on specific technologies, platforms and products.

We heard a lot more about Nehalem, about visual computing, about multithreaded CPUs (And just for fun, compare this detailed look at Intel’s sometimes-inscrutable codenames with a detailed look at those same codenames, from a slightly different perspective). Keynotes from Gelsinger and Chandrasekher, along with Software and Solutions Group General Manager and Intel Vice President Renee James and Intel’s Andrew Chien helped to clarify just how much more mobile our technology will allow us to be.

But always in the backdrop was Shanghai. In this video podcast, Jason Lopez connects the dots between Intel’s efforts to push technology past its limits and Shanghai’s amazing journey to pass its own.

Tags: IDF, Shanghai, Intel developers, Pat Gelsinger, architecture for life, Anand Chandrasekher, unleash the Internet, Dunnington, Nehalem, visual computing, multithreaded CPUs, Renee James, Andrew Chien, Jason Lopez, IDF2008, Silverthorne, Intel Atom, mobile Internet device, Nehalem, Dunnington, Multithreading, virtualization, high performance computing, wireless technology, Centrino, WiMax, 45nm, 32nm

IDF Shanghai: Sights and Sounds

Jason Lopez — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 22:51:47 +0000

In this video podcast, Intel Senior Vice President and General Manager, Digital Enterprise Group, Pat Gelsinger explains Intel architecture and its wide-ranging capabilities (”architecture for life”), and Intel Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intel’s Mobility Group, Dadi Perlmutter and Intel Senior Vice President and General Manager, Ultra Mobility Group, Anand Chandrasekher update the crowd on the latest on the mobile Internet devices and their innovative technology, powered by the Intel Atom processor.

This year’s Spring IDF took place in Shanghai.

Tags: Intel, Pat Gelsinger, Dadi Perlmutter, Anand Chandrasekher, Intel Atom, Shanghai, IDF2008, Silverthorne, Intel Atom, mobile Internet device, Nehalem, Dunnington, Multithreading, virtualization, high performance computing, wireless technology, Centrino, WiMax, 45nm, 32nm

IDF Shanghai: Keynote Demos Showcase Mobility, Innovation

editor — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:27:59 +0000

In this video podcast straight from Intel’s Spring IDF in Shanghai, the spotlight is on the keynote demos that showed power and performance in newer, smaller and more innovative form factors, many powered by the Intel’s Atom processor. Many of the demonstrations focused on mobility, and they all provided an exciting look at some of the technologies that are just around the corner.

Dr. Ren Ng, president and CEO of Refocus Imaging, led a demo of his company’s light field cameras, which record the full light field as it enters the camera, ultimately extending the capabilities of conventional digital cameras and “turning camera hardware into software.” Ng explains that by doing this, light field cameras “bring the economics and power of Moore’s Law to the camera system.” (snapshots from their Web site illustrate the demo, which they re-created live, on stage at IDF!).

Also on hand was Dr. Mendel Rosenblum, co-founder and chief scientist at VMware. He shared the stage with Intel Senior Vice President and General Manager, Digital Enterprise Group, Pat Gelsinger, to demonstrate a flex migration across four generations of hardware as well as the value of the deep collaboration between Intel and VMware.

There was a live demo by Classmate PC, following the news-making announcement of the new, second generation classmate (”featuring a 9-inch LCD screen, 6-cell battery, 512MB memory, a 30GB hard disk drive and a built-in webcam“), the unveiling of Intel’s Tukwila Itanium processor (“Two billion transistors in one processor”), and a mobility-focused Asianux demoonstration of the breadth of Moblin Usage, including a new way to play video from the Web and a new way to order Chinese food.

A Montevina demo was noteworthy after Intel Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intel’s Mobility Group, Dadi Perlmutter, revealed that Intel’s next generation mobile platform, Montevina, will provide twice the 3D processing power of any current integrated solution.

Demos showcasing Neusoft driver assistance, Fuwa robot, Adobe Air, Sobey real-time rendering and MID & mobile designs rounded out the event.

Tags: Intel, IDF, Shanghai, mobility, Ren Ng, Refocus Imaging, light field cameras, Mendel Rosenblum, VMware, Pat Gelsinger, flex migration, Classmate PC, Tukwila, Itanium, processor, Moblin, Montevina, Dadi Perlmutter, Fuwa, Adobe Air, Sobey, IDF2008, Silverthorne, Intel Atom, mobile Internet device, Nehalem, Dunnington, Multithreading, virtualization, high performance computing, wireless technology, Centrino, WiMax, 45nm, 32nm

SNW Spotlight Spring 2008

Catherine Girardeau — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:20:28 +0000

SNW Spotlight, the latest news from Storage Networking World, will be brought to you by LSI twice daily during the SNW conference, held April 7-10 at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando, Fla. Subscribe now for daily podcasts of news from the conference, as well as stories on hot topics featuring industry leaders. This spring’s conference will include keynote presentations by renowned inventor Raymond Kurzweil; Laura Campbell of the Library of Congress, and many others. Follow conference tracks on issues of vital importance to storage and networking professionals, from High Performance Computing to the Next-Generation Data Center.

Tags: SNW Spotlight, Storage Networking World, LSI, Raymond Kurzweil, Laura Campbell, High Performance Computing, Data Center

Intel HPC Benchmarking

Catherine Girardeau — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 20:00:48 +0000

Benchmarking is a crucial part of purchasing decisions for buyers of high-performance computing (HPC) systems. Paresh Pattani, Director of HPC and Workstation Applications, Intel says it’s crucial to test systems with real-world software application workloads, rather than relying on standardized benchmarking. In this podcast, Pattani outlines the most important criteria to use when testing high-performance computing systems, and also which tests not to rely on solely, such as SpecFP rate. Pattani explains how Intel’s new Xeon 5400 platform and chipset performed in benchmark testing.

Tags: Benchmarking, high-performance computing, HPC, Paresh Pattani, SpecFP, Intel, Xeon 5400

Intel Ships New 45nm Penryn Chip

Paul Lancour — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 19:01:30 +0000

Gordon Moore’s Law will remain in effect for the foreseeable future. Intel Corporation’s new 45nm Penryn microprocessor relies on a new recipe that combines the element Hafnium and metal gate technology to increase performance and significantly reduce eco-unfriendly, wasteful electricity leaks. (more…)

Tags: Moore’s Law, 45nm, Penryn, microprocessor, new recipe, Hafnium, metal gate, eco-unfriendly, wasteful electricity leaks

Intel’s Xeon Custom-Made for High-Performance Computing

Catherine Girardeau — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 19:00:58 +0000

High-performance computing presents unique challenges in performance, energy efficiency and parallel processing, and Intel has just unveiled a unique solution. The Intel Xeon processors and platforms use an entirely new transistor formula based on the second generation of the Intel Core microarchitecture. Intel’s new high-performance computing (HPC) platform is made possible by technological advancements in the new quad-core Intel Xeon processor 5400 series or dual-core Intel Xeon processor 5200 series, and Intel 5400 chipset. Intel Co-Founder Gordon Moore calls the processors which use Intel’s Hafnium-based High-k metal gate transistor formula and will be manufactured on the company’s 45-nanometer process, the biggest transistor advancement in 40 years.

The new Xeon family continues Intel’s leadership in delivering faster, more energy-efficient processors, with a 38 percent improvement in performance per watt over its predecessor.

Intel and HP Discuss Latest in Energy-Efficient Computing

Catherine Girardeau — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 19:30:20 +0000

Energy management and energy efficiency in data centers: Intel and HP are working together to save energy and money while boosting computing performance. The Climate Savers Computing Initiative is one way that Intel and HP are working to create sustainable high-performance technology for the enterprise. How do the energy management capabilities achieved by deploying Intel’s vPro platform contribute to power savings across an entire business? And what should the energy-conscious data center manager consider in trying to implement power savings in the data center? (More information on energy-effient chips related to this week’s announcement from another sponsor of the initiative, Marvell — a chip that actually determines the energy requirements of individual applications.

Tags: Energy management, energy efficiency, data centers, Intel, HP, computing performance, Climate Savers Computing Initiative

New, Smaller 45nm Transistors from Intel, Making a Big Splash at Supercomputing 2007

Jason Lopez — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:02:20 +0000

“Penryn” is the name for the upcoming family of processors built on new technology that Intel co-Founder Gordon Moore called one of the biggest advances to transistors in 45 years, PodTech’s Jason Lopez talks with Richard Dracott, General Manager of the High Performance Computing Organization in the Digital Enterprise Group at Intel.

Dracott talks about the possibilities of high performance computing, and about the upcoming SC ‘07 conference, where today’s leading computer companies will feature their latest and greatest products and technology. Featured at the Intel booth will be a contest to build a 768 GFlop processing cluster using the latest Intel quad core processors, and the winner gets to take it home. For more information and to participate, go to ultimatehpcgeek.com. Find more info on High Performance Computers, or go to Intel’s knowledge base Wiki on supercomputing.

Live from IDF: WiMAX and the Future Wireless Broadband Internet

Catherine Girardeau — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:00:35 +0000

Keynotes from two Intel executives — David (Dadi) Perlmutter and Anand Chandrasekher — kicked off Day 2 at Intel’s Fall IDF in San Francisco. First up, Dadi Perlmutter, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the Mobility Group. He covered the latest trends in mobile computing, touching on the key elements for mobility — performance, battery life, form factor and wireless communications. Mobile WiMAX will play a big role in wireless networking connectivity, as he explains in this keynote podcast.

In other news, Intel will launch Santa Rosa Refresh in January 2008. It’s an update to Intel Centrino processor technology that includes the next-gen 45nm high-k mobile processor (codenamed Penryn).

Perlmutter also showed the next generation Montevina processor technology that is set to roll out in mid-2008, which includes the Penryn mobile processor and the next-generation chipset with DDR3 memory support. This is notable for being Intel’s first Centrino processor for notebooks to offer the option of integrated Wi-Fi, WiMAX wireless technologies for greater wireless broadband access.

Anand Chandrasekher, Intel senior vice president and general manager of the Ultra Mobility Group, discussed the personal mobile Internet, and Intel’s “silicon roadmap” that will deliver radical reductions in power requirements and package sizes. He also announced a range of leading industry players working with Intel to establish the MID and ultra-mobile PC (UMPC) categories. In a talk entitled, “Unleashing the Internet Experience,” he also covered the upcoming Intel Menlow platform (including a new processor, codenamed Silverthorne - lots of detail can be found on John Spooner’s blog), and the Intel “Moorestown” platform — System on Chip plus a Communications Hub.

The talk also amounted to a check-in after last April’s announcement at IDF Beijing of the MID Innovation alliance with Asus, BenQ, Compal, Elektrobit, HTC, Inventec and Quanta. Chandrasekher was able to show working prototypes from many of the partner companies, emphasizing the significant progress that’s been made over the past six months.

Also announced were strategic collaborations for MID and UMPC efforts — a step forward for Intel’s “Full Internet in Your Pocket” vision.

And the keynote included what Intel billed as the “world’s first demonstration of Adobe AIR Application on Intel Menlow-based platform” — designed to extend the reach of rich Internet applications.

Go Mobile - Click Here for MIDs and UMPCs

Tags: David (Dadi) Perlmutter, Anand Chandrasekher, Fall IDF, Dadi, mobile computing, WiMAX, networking connectivity, Santa Rosa Refresh, 45nm, mobile processor, Penryn, Montevina processor, Anand Chandrasekher, Ultra Mobility, ultra-mobile PC, UMPC, Intel Menlow, Silverthorne, Moorestown, System on Chip, MID Innovation, Full Internet in Your Pocket

HP Hits Gaming, Multimedia With Product Launch

Catherine Girardeau — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 07:01:26 +0000

The HP Personal Systems Group recently unveiled its 2008 product line at a celebrity-studded event at Skylight Studios, in Manhattan (and yes, that’s “personal” as in, The Computer is Personal Again). In addition to HP’s new iPAQ handheld communications devices, its MediaSmart PC and MediaSmart Server, and a new line of laptops optimized for multimedia use — already enough newsworthy stuff to keep customers, bloggers and investors talking for awhile — the announcement included HP’s entry into the gaming enthusiast market, with the Blackbird 002.

In September 2006, when HP acquired VoodooPC and brought VoodooPC Founder Rahul Sood on as chief technology officer for HP’s Global Gaming Business, the wheels were set in motion for HP to make bold statement in the gaming space. Sood explains what’s been going on behind the curtain for the last 12 months here, but the bottom line is that the “symbolic” partnership between Voodoo and HP has, by many accounts, not only marked HP’s entry into gaming with a splash, but raised the bar for the gaming PC industry, from the Blackbird 002’s high-performance engineering to the kind of design that has some comparing it with some stylish competitors.

On hand for the announcement were the celebrity “achievers” who have made their “faceless” statements in television advertisements spotlighting the adaptability and versatility of HP’s personal computing technology, including Olympic Gold Medalist Snowboarder Shaun White, Tennis Pro and fashion designer Serena Williams, supermodel Petra Nemcova and The Orange County Choppers, all of whom took a few moments to speak with PodTech’s Catherine Girardeau about HP and the role of personal media technology in their lives. Each of them, in their own way, embodies the event’s theme — “Your Life is the Show.”

The hopping party also provided a chance for press and enthusiasts to hear from several HP Personal Systems Group execs, including Satjiv Chahil, senior vice president of global marketing and Todd Bradley, executive vice president; Rahul Sood, CTO for HP Gaming (and founder of VoodooPC), and Phil McKinney, vice president and CTO for the Personal Systems Group and general manager of HP’s Gaming Business Unit.

Responses to the announcements have come from around the globe — in Britain, one blogger named Dave acknowledging, “This is not just any PC. This is the Blackbird 002,” while in Florida, Mark N. writes about the new PC with a simple, “Now that’s what I’m talking about.”

But the announcement wasn’t all about the gaming PC — it was also about building community around HP’s efforts in multimedia. Philip Churchill notes, on his blog, that in addition to the MediaSmart Server unveiled at the event, HP is supporting it with a “community for enthusiasts [of the server] to share information, offer support, and enjoy the product together.”

In addition to the PodTech video, photos from the event can be found here.

Director of Photography: San Key Sa

Tags: HP, Skylight Studios, iPAQ, handheld communications, MediaSmart PC, MediaSmart Server, multimedia, gaming enthusiast, Blackbird 002, VoodooPC, Rahul Sood, Shaun White, Serena Williams, Petra Nemcova, Orange County Choppers, Your Life is the Show, Satjiv Chahil, Todd Bradley, Rahul Sood, Phil McKinney

Sun Grid

editor — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 19:42:20 +0000

Sun Microsystems has unveiled the world’s only application utility that enables on-demand delivery of HPC (high-performance computing) applications over the network. Called Sun Grid Application Catalog, and available through network.com, the utility offers immediate pay-per-use access to 20 unique open source applications with more expected from the 50-100 communities participating. Host Hal Stern invites VP of Engineering for Collaboration and ISVs Jim Parkinson to hear firsthand how ISVs, developers, and end users will benefit from the expanded grid functionality.

Tags: HPC, Grid Application Catalog, Hal Stern, Jim Parkinson

Utility Computing - Is It Real?

Paul Lancour — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 20:13:48 +0000

Utility computing is not a new concept, but the technologies that make it viable are finally maturing. Properly deployed, utility computing can increase server utilization rates, reduce the requirement to build overcapacity and lower operating costs. This podcast identifies key success factors for organizations hoping to capture the benefits of utility computing.

Moreover, utility computing is a dramatic departure from the ways IT departments have traditionally worked. Like providers of electricity, gas, water and other utilities, organizations can use the utility computing model to consolidate capacity and automatically allocate resources based upon the real-time requirements of users.

As a result, the utility computing model can contribute to achieving extremely high server utilization rates — and greatly save when it comes to the cost of adding and managing data center capacity in the traditional way.

Join BearingPoint technologist Frederic Veron to explore why, for these reasons and more, BearingPoint believes that the time is right to implement utility computing.