These are just a few recent examples of the value cloud services can bring to organizations that require supercomputing. But it's a pairing that's been discussed for a while, particularly as IT costs continue to be reined in at enterprises worldwide.
The combination of cloud services and supercomputing stands to grow in sectors such as university research, where institutions strapped for funding no longer have the means to acquire and maintain supercomputers for scientific and industry research.
"I have long argued that development of commercial clouds to support research will fundamentally change cyber-infrastructure at universities," wrote Canadian consultant Bill St. Arnaud in a note last week. "HPC [high-performance computing] will remain an important niche, but analyzing large volumes of data is ideally suited for commercial clouds."
Government is another area where supercomputing clouds could support a mandate to work smarter with less waste. Here too St. Arnaud sees progress, as exhibited by the Obama administration's announcement of big data funding last week. "It is great to see US and European governments undertake initiatives to promote the development of research into Big Data utilizing commercial clouds," St. Arnaud wrote.
Technology itself supports supercomputing in the cloud. IBM has worked with Rutgers University to create a "federated cloud" using virtualization. And at least one source, Stacey Higginbotham of GigaOM, has written about how the kind of scalability required in cloud computing is starting to rub off in the supercomputing field, especially when it comes to new chips and processors.
Expect some surprises in this area. One author notes that in addition to "research as a service," we might see other apps turning up as supercomputer-based clouds. Case in point: IBM's Watson, whose smarts IBM has acknowledged just might turn up in a future cloud service.
Thanks, Mary. We have to move beyond the thinking of "purchasing computers" to building knowledge through data that is supported by the utility of required computing power to collect, store, and use that data.
Interesting you should mention how sharing services across departments makes them more economical. That's a great point that also boosts the argument for supercomputing as a service.
Great points, Mary. The more that the distribution of computing power is widespread, including the architecture, the more value the organization will gain in integrating data throughout the organization and using that data in operations and decision making.
Removing the constraints for increasing computing power through a service structure (that makes computing affordable and scalable), provides the opportunity for increased use at all levels of the organization. Furthermore, the ability to tap into the cloud services will ensure a higher quality of performance with the expertise required to maintain the cloud services.
Actually, I believe that supercomputers cost so much to buy and maintain that having services opens up all kinds of possibilities that weren't there before. I can't but think that the ROI won't be difficult to show.
As to Watson as a Service -- what better way to spread this technology and get it out there where it can make a difference?
Oh yes, there's no question that money can be saved on storage. And it's only fair to remember that Amazon has volunteered to store this database free.
I think you're right, Mary. Supercomputing and the cloud are indeed a good fit, as evidenced by the use of the cloud by Factual, the big data collection/analysis outfit I wrote about last week. It will come with a cost, though. Although Amazon is hosting the "1000 genome" database for free, it is charging handsome fees for querying it.
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