How High-Performance Computing is Pushing the Boundaries of Innovation
October 03, 2023
By Benjamin Nigl, Senior Account Manager
HPC systems are characterized by their high-speed processing power, high-performance networks, and large-memory capacity, generating the capability to perform massive amounts of parallel processing. When a standard desktop with a 3 GHz processor can perform around 3 billion calculations per second, an average HPC system can perform quadrillions of calculations per second. This means HPC systems perform extreme amounts of calculations in seconds, whereas a regular processor would take weeks or even months to complete the same task, thanks to their technology.
While not every system requires an extreme processing speed, HPC is essential for advanced, time-consuming use cases that rely on:
Extreme performance databases
Big data and massive multi-dimensional datasets
Real-time data analytics
Advanced machine learning and AI elements
HPC is an essential capability to enterprises across a broad spectrum of industries, including manufacturing, automotive, aerospace, energy, life sciences, finance, and more. HPC gives enterprises the ability to discover scientific and business insights, develop new products, and open new avenues for progress by enabling multi-physics simulations, digital twin models, big data analytics, machine learning, and other complex engineering and scientific workloads, but even the largest enterprises can struggle to deploy, manage, and scale the robust HPC resources they need for success in the modern world.
Function of HPC in some industries:
AI and High-Performance Computing
The synergy between HPC and AI is evident in the growing number of applications that combine power of these technologies. For instance, in the field of scientific research, HPC has been instrumental in accelerating the discovery of new materials, simulating complex physical phenomena, and predicting the behavior of molecules and atoms. Researchers can optimize their models, making them more accurate and efficient by incorporating AI and ML techniques into these simulations.
Engineering and High-Performance Computing
Engineering is about boosting machines’ performance, but testing prototypes is expensive. In order to work around this, engineers often test new designs in massive computer simulations. Thanks to HPC systems, simulations have been used to test the functionality of airplane parts, streamline racing bike frames and much more.
Healthcare and High-Performance Computing
Medicine and computing are as intimately intertwined as DNA’s double helix. Computers store confidential patient information, track vital signs and analyze drug efficacy. The rise of HPC has allowed medical professionals to digitize even more complex processes, too, like genome sequencing and drug testing.
Urban Planning and High-Performance Computing
HPCs help urban planners make predictions and build models, run simulations, bringing the dream of a smart city closer to reality. Major metropolises across the globe have begun collecting sensor data on weather, traffic patterns and noise levels, all of which allow officials to make data-driven decisions about everything from when to issue smog warnings to how often trains should run. It also lets them quantify longer-term issues like climate change, and as smart city sensor networks collect so much data, they need HPC to parse it all. With HPCs we can do smarter designs and planning, empower energy research, forecast the weather, augment transportation, monitor air pollution.
The evolution of IT infrastructure spans several decades and is marked by significant advancements in computing technology, networking, storage, and management practices. Data Centers have historically relied on Converged or Hyper-Converged infrastructures when deploying their hardware which proved to limited in flexibility, efficiency, scalability, and support for the Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI/ML) modern workloads of today.
“Edge Computing” is a term which has been widely adopted by the tech sector. Dominant leaders in accelerated computing have designated “Edge” as one of their fastest-growing segments, with FY24 revenue projected to be nearly $100 billion. The boom in the market for Edge Computing has become so significant that it is increasingly common to see companies create their own edge-related spinoff terms such as ‘Rugged Edge’, ‘Edge AI’, ‘Extreme Edge’, and a whole slew of other new buzzwords.
The landscape of modern warfare is undergoing a profound transformation with the integration of cutting-edge technologies, and at the forefront of this evolution are autonomous military vehicles. Datalogging, a seemingly inconspicuous yet indispensable technology, plays a pivotal role in shaping the capabilities and effectiveness of these autonomous marvels. In this blog post, we delve into the critical role of datalogging in autonomous military vehicles and its impact on the future of defense strategies.
