Features:

AN INTERVIEW WITH NHPCC '04 ORGANIZER JOHN MIGUEL
by Mike Bernhardt

As sure as spring follows winter, The 18th annual National High Performance Computing and Communications conference will once again take place in Newport, Rhode Island on March 30th.

This has been one of the most consistent conferences in high-tech -- a small, intimate and elite gathering that has created a steady following of HPC aficionados.

Mike Bernhardt, HPCwire contributing editor and GRIDtoday editor-at-large, interviewed the NHPCC conference organizer, John Miguel, to get an advance peek at this year's conference.

Bernhardt: How would you describe the National HPCC Conference John? What will users get here that they can't get at most other HPC conferences?

Miguel: I believe the HPCC conference is really a unique event of this type in the United States, or anywhere else that I know. Let me start out by telling you what it's not. It's not a big trade show. It's not a huge show with thousands of people where you feel lost like a little fish in the ocean. It's a small, very intimate, and very high-level conference. Many of our past conference attendees have told me they describe the conference as elite.

The goal of the conference is two fold. First, it is to present the very latest in High Performance Computing and computer security applications technology. Secondly, it is to foster networking between the people in the High Performance Computing community. Attendees are very aware of the show's reputation as a networking event. Now in our 18th year, the show has been a wonderful success.

The attendees include about 175 to 200 people from all types of agencies in the government, key HPC vendors, and senior HPC technology decision makers. The sessions are all plenary, so everybody stays together throughout the event, which fosters a strong and somewhat unique networking environment. Most speakers stay for the entire conference and you get to meet a lot of people. It's like an annual gathering of who's who in high performance computing.

Bernhardt: So what can we expect at this year's event? Is there anything that you think will be particularly exciting?

Miguel: The three major technology initiatives in the country now are supercomputing, grid computing and wireless computing. The primary movers and shakers in those fields of technology are all coming to the conference.

The three people who are in charge of the three fastest supercomputers in the world -- at least as of today -- will be presenting at the conference this year.

The Director General of the impressive supercomputer at the Earth Simulator Center in Yokohama, Japan (38 teraflop), Dr. Tetsuya Sato, will be giving a talk at the conference on the Earth Simulator and its surroundings.

The second fastest supercomputer (14 Teraflops) is at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and conference attendees will be enlightened to listen to John Morrison from the Computing, Communications and Networking Division there, give a talk on the implications of Petaflop Computing, which is the next frontier.

And last, but certainly not least, Dr. Srinidhi Varadarajin, the Director of the Terascale Computing Facility at Virginia Tech, who is the professor who put together the 1,100 Mac dual processor G5 computers to create what is known as The Big Mac Project. Mac is now in the Supercomputing arena, and think about this: It is the third fastest supercomputer in the world and it only cost $5 million to build, as opposed to $200 plus million dollars.

In Grid computing, we have some major players participating in the grid computing arena, including Dr. Charles Catlett of the Argonne National Laboratory, who will discuss the technical and organizational lessons learned from the construction of the TeraGrid, which is a 25 Teraflop computational grid system that utilizes systems all over the country.

And let's not forget the Grid Super panel,which is being sponsored by Platform Computing. We're thrilled that you will be joining us to moderate that panel Mike. Some significant players from the Grid Computing world will be participants on the panel -- an interactive discussion looking at the implications of Smart Networks for Grid computing environments.

This will be of high interest to our audience -- there are a lot of great applications for grid computing in the national defense arena, and of course the basic promise of Grid - the issue of improving productivity is always of great interest.

And as our theme suggests, we have the wireless focus, where Ronald Jost, the Director of Wireless Technology at the Department of Defense, will talk about wireless technology implementation policy in the DoD. That's a major issue today as government agencies would all like to utilize the benefits that wireless computing has to offer, but there is a major concern with regards to wireless security. Jost will be addressing these issues and the implications of wireless technology in the defense industry.

Also in the wireless space, Charles Cape, from the Department of Homeland Security, will be coming to give a talk on Wireless Interoperability and how it supports the war on terrorism.

Dr. Stephen Wheat from Intel is on the program this year. He's a real veteran of the HPC industry. Back when Intel had a Supercomputer Systems Division, he was a systems software architect for the ASCI Red system. He's also a Gordon Bell prize winner and he holds a patent in Dynamic Load Balancing in HPC systems. I'm sure he'll be delivering a very interesting presentation.

And finally, the opening keynote speaker for the conference is Dr. Eng Lim Goh, who is the Chief Technology Officer for Silicon Graphics. He was a speaker last year, and was so good that we invited him back again this year. Dr. Goh has a tremendous vision of the future of high performance computing. He's a terrific speaker with a tremendous command of the technology and where the industry is going.

Bernhardt: What notable exhibitors will be at this year's event?

Miguel: We have a great line-up of exhibitors for this event. We try to target industry exhibitors who are leaders in their fields and have important roles in high performance computing. Our platinum exhibitors include General Dynamics, Intel, Linux Networx, Marconi Federal, Platform Computing, and SGI. Our gold exhibitors include HP, Data Direct Networks and Shomo, and our silver exhibitors include Apple Computer and The Noblemen Group.

Bernhardt: What do you anticipate as being the "big story' of this event? What story line comes out and grabs you?

Miguel: The resurgence of Supercomputing is going to be a major story at the conference, especially here in the United States. The United States sort of rested on its laurels for a while, and Japan now has the biggest, fastest supercomputer with a tremendous application on climate research. The United States is getting back on the map with the impressive system at Los Alamos National Laboratory, which is the second fastest supercomputer in the world, and also the sudden emergence of Apple in the supercomputing arena, with Dr. Varadarajins project at Virginia Tech, where he orchestrated the creation of a powerful, yet relatively inexpensive supercomputer using Apple clusters.

The second story is the emergence of grid computing, and even I am looking forward to the super panel on Grid Computing. The participants on that panel so far include Platform, NASA Ames, Nortel, SHARCNET, and CANARIE.

Bernhardt: So John -- the conference is in its 18th year. What do you credit the longevity of this event to?

Miguel: The longevity of the event is due to two things: the first-class networking opportunity that this conference presents, and the relevance of the presentation topics to what is going on out in the field. We always discuss the latest, hottest topics in high performance computing.

If you are in the IT field in the government or industry, you can come here and listen to talks on the latest topics, and what are the latest advancements in research and development in the HPC field. I believe people keep coming back because of these two fundamental reasons, which create quite a value proposition for those attending.

Understand that the speakers aren't up there to give a sales pitch. They are up there to give their view of the technology and where it's going. It's a tremendous environment where you come for two and a half days and get really educated on the hottest HPC topics, and really enjoy yourself doing it. You dont get peppered with sales pitches.

Bernhardt: What caused you to come up with the theme of Wireless Networking and Grid computing?

Miguel: We have an ad hoc program committee of senior people in government and industry who give us feedback that we listen to. Also a small group in the National High Performance Computing Communications Counsel, the sponsoring organization, provides feedback.

At each conference, there is a program committee meeting in which we look forward and sort-of divine the hot topics that are on the horizon for next year. We've been successful for 18 years in a row. If I could only be so fortunate picking the stock market now, I'd be very wealthy!

The beauty of the show is, you listen to someone like Dr. Eng Lim Goh at the conference, and you get an idea of what the future is. As with the previous conferences, this year you will get a glimpse of what's coming around the corner next year.

Bernhardt: What government or military agencies do you expect to have in attendance this year?

Miguel: The Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard will all have significant representation at the conference, as they all have applications for high performance, grid, and wireless computing. They'll listen to the policy makers and directors of research in the government, along with the directors of research in industry, and go back feeling up to speed on the latest advances, while knowing the hot technologies just now on the horizon that they should be on the look-out for.

The Federal Technology Service in the General Services Administration will also have delegates in attendance, as they have large contracts to provide services to IRS, Department of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, and onward. You name the agency, there is a broad spectrum of people from all types of government agencies that come to the conference.

Bernhardt: What is the one thing that you hope attendees of the National HPCC conference go home with in terms of their experience at the event?

Miguel: I hope that the attendees walk away with an appreciation of the value of the conference, knowing that they learned the latest information on high performance computing, technology, government plans and programs, and new applications, and will look forward to participating in the event next year, knowing that they'll be coming back for more great content and invaluable networking.

The National High Performance Computing and Communications conference takes place in Newport, Rhode Island from March 30th through April 1st. More information can be found at http://www.hpcc-usa.org.