University of California San Diego

San Diego Supercomputer Center

Welcome to the San Diego

Supercomputer Center

This presentation was adapted from a previous version created by Fran Berman, SDSC Director

University of California San Diego

San Diego Supercomputer Center

About SDSC• Founded in 1985, was affiliated with General Atomics• Funded mainly by the United States National Science

Foundation• SDSC has more than 400 scientists, software

developers and support personnel with expertise in – high-performance computing, – data and knowledge systems, – networking, – visualization, – computational science, – grid and cluster computing, – and security

University of California San Diego

San Diego Supercomputer Center

SDSC Highlights• Supercomputers

– 3 major academic research supercomputers– One of the 25 fastest on Earth!

• Data– 600 times the data in the United States

National Library of Congress, or the amount of music in over 300,000 iPods!

• Many Different Kinds of People– Computer Scientists, Biologists, Astronomers,

Gamers, Oceanographers, Hacker trackers, etc.

University of California San Diego

San Diego Supercomputer Center

The Machine Room

SDSC Machine Room – 11,000 ft2

University of California San Diego

San Diego Supercomputer Center

SDSC Staff Help Researchers Do Computational Science

• What would happen if 1000 gallons of oil spilled into San Diego Bay? (“What if” Models)

• Can we design efficient hydrogen fuel cells? (Engineering Models)

• What will happen if the Earth’s climate gets warmer? (Prediction Models)

University of California San Diego

San Diego Supercomputer Center

We Solve Problems Faster

• Two ways of making computers solve problems faster:

1. Make them smarter2. Make them work

together

University of California San Diego

San Diego Supercomputer Center

The Network IS The Computer

• We can divide the program into parts and execute a different part of the program on each computer– To save time, we can run

the different parts of the program at the same time

– We call these kinds of programs parallel programs

University of California San Diego

San Diego Supercomputer Center

• How to simulate an earthquake:

1. Divide up Southern California into “blocks”

2. For each block, collect data on ground surface composition, geological structures, fault information, etc.

The Southern San Andreas Fault

University of California San Diego

San Diego Supercomputer Center

• How to simulate an earthquake:

3. Map the blocks on to processors

SDSC’s DataStar – one of the 25 fastest

computers in the world

University of California San Diego

San Diego Supercomputer Center

• How to simulate an earthquake:

4. The simulation outputs data on seismic wave velocity, earthquake magnitude,and other characteristics

• How much data was output?

• 47 TeraBytes which is

– More than two times the printed materials in the United States National Library of Congress! or

– The amount of music in over 2000 iPods!

• Where does SDSC keep the data?

• In HPSS, a tape storage library that can hold 6 PetaBytes (6000 Terabytes) -- 300 times the printed materials in the United States National Library of Congress

Play movie

University of California San Diego

San Diego Supercomputer Center

1906 San Francisco Earthquake Simulation

Play movie

University of California San Diego

San Diego Supercomputer Center

More Volume Visualization• Orion Nebula Simulation for Hayden

Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History

Play movie

University of California San Diego

San Diego Supercomputer Center

Educational Gaming

http://visservices.sdsc.edu/

Explore the EarthBuild a Star

University of California San Diego

San Diego Supercomputer Center

Thanks for visiting SDSC!http://www.sdsc.edu/

University of California San Diego

San Diego Supercomputer Center

On To The Machine Room…