The term High-Performance Computing (HPC) refers primarily to the use of parallel computers and computer clusters to achieve computing productivity significantly surpassing that which can be had from desktop computers. The definition is necessarily fuzzy --- and constantly evolving as computing technology advances. In the last several years the term has expanded to include other leading-edge technologies such as collaborative computing and videoconferencing, high-bandwidth network applications, and immersive 3D visualization.
The primary applications of high-performance computing have historically been in scientific and engineering research. Quantum chemistry and molecular physics, fluid dynamics, astrophysics, oceanography and climatology, experimental mathematics, and mechanical and electrical engineering are some areas which have long benefitted from HPC. In recent years, uses for high-performance computing have been found in genetics and biochemistry, psychology, data mining and business, among many other fields.
Any project which could benefit from leading edge processing speed, large scale storage space, virtual environments for visualization and collaboration, or high-bandwidth communications could potentially be an application for High-Performance Computing.
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ACEnet is a consortium of Atlantic Canadian universities for the purpose of providing high-performance computing resources in the region. Funding is largely due to the Canada Foundation for Innovation, with contributions from various provincial and industrial bodies. Dalhousie is one of the member institutions in ACEnet; all other major Atlantic Canadian universities are also members.
At the present time, ACEnet cluster computers are located at one of four host institutions (Saint Mary's, Memorial, St. Francis Xavier and the University of New Brunswick), but the location of the hardware is largely irrelevant to its use. Personnel are situated at each of these institutions, and now also at Dalhousie (Dr. Ross Dickson, since 1 July 2007).
ACEnet endeavours to be a user-directed organization. User feedback is obtained through several channels, the most important of which is the Local User Group at each member institution. The Dalhousie Local User Group meets at irregular intervals to provide policy and long-term planning input to ACEnet. The current chair of the Dal Local User Group is Prof. Russell Boyd of the Department of Chemistry. Further direction is obtained through ACEnet Institutes, which are organized around research areas rather than locations. Other communications channels between users and ACEnet include direct email and a recently-established Wiki.
Dalhousie researchers were and are intimately involved in ACEnet.Prof. Jonathan Borwein of the Faculty of Computer Science is a member of ACEnet's Research Directorate. Researchers in the Dalhousie's departments of Physics, Oceanography, and Computer Science are already regular users of ACEnet parallel computers.
Dalhousie researchers can have access to ACEnet resources simply by applying. A tenured or tenure-track faculty member must lead the process by applying for a Project Account. Students, post-docs, research assistants and the like can then apply for user accounts in association with the Project.
ACEnet provides a pool of high-performance computing resources to researchers at all Atlantic Canadian universities, including Dalhousie. Among these resources are:
- Four parallel computing clusters totalling over 500 CPU cores, with more being added.
- Access to major research software including Fluent and Gaussian03, as well as many more free and open-source packages. Both commercial and free packages are constantly being added.
- Advanced parallel compilers and software development tools from Sun Microsystems and the Portland Group.
- Remote collaboration facilities at each major ACEnet institution. The primary facility at Dalhousie is D-Drive.
- Expertise and technical support for all these resources
Researchers can have access to ACEnet resources simply by applying. A tenured or tenure-track faculty member must lead the process by applying for a Project Account. Students, post-docs, research assistants and the like can then apply for user accounts in association with the Project.
Dalhousie University's D-Drive Lab houses a virtual collaboration facility available to the Dalhousie community. The D-Drive Visualization Centre provides a video-conferencing facility with remote collaboration tools, as well as a visualization space for local meetings. The facility is available for virtual conferences, research discussions with distant colleagues, thesis defenses, and other distributed meetings. It is also available to local groups needing a large workspace for visualization or data analysis. To schedule a meeting in the D-Drive facility, please contact the administrator, David Langstroth (dll@cs.dal.ca, or 902-494-8087).
Scott Wilson
Our hardware specialist and first point of contact for researchers wishing to arrange for time and space on the HPC machines. Scott will assist in determining the requirements for the scope of the project.
Ross Dickson
Our applications specialist, and will help the research team implement and use the appropriate applications for their project once it is approved.
To make arrangements for new research initiatives, researchers may contact Scott or Ross at: hpc@lists.dal.ca