High-Performance Compute (HPC): Accelerating Digital Evolution

HPC powers groundbreaking scientific discoveries and game-changing innovations across every industry, driving digital evolution to accelerate and provide insight and innovation on demand.



While supercomputers may cost millions and require specialists, HPC as a service solution in the cloud enables organizations of any size to benefit from high-performance computing without incurring additional expenses or complexity.

What is High Performance Computing?

Some research projects require computing power beyond what a single desktop or laptop computer can handle, which is where high-performance computing (HPC) comes into play. HPC works by networking multiple compute elements, known as compute nodes, together in the form of a cluster connected by fast network infrastructure so algorithms and programs run simultaneously and produce faster processing and more accurate results. HPC utilizes the combined computational power of multiple computers to execute large-scale tasks efficiently.

HPC allows scientists and engineers to design, test, and optimize new hardware or software faster than with traditional systems. Thus, eliminating or significantly reducing physical testing requirements saves both time and money. HPC systems process data rapidly to perform complex calculations in real time.

Many industries rely on HPC to solve difficult problems that were once considered intractable, helping them improve their products and services. HPC can assist automotive designers by modelling how parts will interact in a crash, developing battery technology or aerodynamics, or simulating how different designs affect fuel efficiency.

HPC can be applied in healthcare for genome analysis and image processing to assist in diagnostics. It is also used to design medications, predict drug interactions, track disease progression, and create simulations for medical devices. In the energy sector, HPC frequently simulates the effects of wind farms on climate and power distribution while also optimizing oil and gas exploration efforts.

Modern HPC systems are composed of processors, memory and storage dedicated exclusively for HPC use as well as programming tools like MPI libraries and frameworks like NVIDIA’s CUDA or AMD’s ROCm that leverage GPU acceleration for enhanced computational power. Beyond these traditional frameworks, modern HPC is driven by technologies like Artificial Intelligence that enhance resource allocation and performance optimization.

Note: MPI  stands for Message Passing Interface (MPI). It is a portable message-passing standard designed for parallel computing architectures. For more information, refer to the Open MPI Project.

Present-day supercomputers can perform over 1 billion operations every second (petascale performance), and future generations will reach even higher performance levels, further driving innovation in fields like science, engineering, and business.

In summary:

• High-performance computing (HPC) is the use of supercomputers or computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems.
• HPC integrates systems administration, parallel programming, and multidisciplinary fields like digital electronics, computer architectures, system software, programming languages, and algorithms.
• HPC systems have shifted from supercomputing to computing clusters and grids, requiring networking and collapsed network backbones for troubleshooting and upgrades.
• HPC is commonly associated with scientific research, computational science, and engineering applications like computational fluid dynamics and virtual prototypes.
• HPC enables the performance of complex calculations at high speeds, making it an essential tool for various fields.

Importance of High-Performance Computing

High-performance computing is important for several reasons, including revolutionizing the way research and engineering are conducted and having a profound impact on many aspects of our lives.



HPC has improved the efficiency of industrial processes, disaster response and mitigation and furthered our understanding of the world around us.

HPC is the foundation for scientific, industrial, and societal advancements. It enables the processing of massive amounts of data in real-time, which is crucial for applications such as streaming live events, tracking storms, and analyzing stock trends. Data storage plays a vital role in maintaining optimal performance within HPC systems by quickly feeding and ingesting data.

Refer to our in-depth guide on the Importance of HPC.

HPC Architecture and Infrastructure

HPC architecture and infrastructure are meticulously designed to support the rapid processing of vast amounts of data. At the heart of an HPC system are multiple components working in harmony to deliver unparalleled computing power.



System Architecture of a Supercomputer

The advancement of graphics processing unit (GPU) technology is a key enabler driving the evolution of HPC and ML. GPUs are specialized computer chips specifically designed to process large volumes of data in parallel, making them ideal for certain HPC applications. They have also become the standard for ML/AI computations. The synergy between high-performance GPUs and software optimizations has allowed HPC systems to conduct complex simulations and computations significantly faster than traditional computing systems.

How Does HPC Work?

High-performance computing works by combining the computational power of multiple computers to perform large-scale tasks that would be infeasible on a single machine. Here is how HPC works: 

1. Cluster Configuration: An HPC cluster consists of multiple computers, or nodes, connected by a high-speed network. Each node is equipped with one or more processors, memory, and storage. An HPC cluster consists of hundreds or thousands of compute servers, each called a node. The nodes work in parallel to boost processing speed and deliver high-performance computing. HPC clusters are used for a variety of purposes across multiple industries. Each node in the cluster works together to achieve high performance, using compute network storage and high-performance computing systems.
2. Task Parallelization: In task parallelization, computational work is divided into smaller, independent tasks that can be run simultaneously on different nodes in the cluster. 
3. Data Distribution: The data required for the computation is distributed among the nodes so that each node has a portion of the data to work on. 
4. Computation: Each node performs its portion of the computation in parallel, and the results are shared and ultimately integrated until the work is completed. 
5. Monitoring and Control: The cluster includes software tools that monitor the nodes' performance and control the distribution of tasks and data. This helps ensure that computation runs efficiently and effectively. 
6. Output: The final output is the result of the combined computation performed by all the nodes in the cluster. The output is generally saved to a large, parallel file system and/or rendered graphically into images or other visual depictions to facilitate discovery, understanding, and communication. 

By harnessing the collective power of many computers, HPC enables large-scale simulations, data analysis, and other compute-intensive tasks to be completed in a fraction of the time it would take on a single machine.

Applications of High-Performance Computing

Modern society is inundated with data, making HPC tools essential for extracting actionable insights quickly. HPC plays a role in everything from scientific research to physics-based simulations, artificial intelligence development, engineering applications, and business use cases. It even allows industries to run simulations that reduce physical testing needs while fuelling game-changing innovations and scientific breakthroughs. Various HPC applications commonly used in scientific and engineering fields include molecular dynamics simulations, computational fluid dynamics, climate modelling, computational chemistry, and machine learning.

HPC allows researchers to perform complex calculations that would otherwise be impractical or impossible with standard computers. It enables them to model physical events and explore vast datasets faster, speeding scientific discovery. HPC may even help answer some of life’s big questions, like why solar flares disrupt radio communications or GPS navigation systems.

Civil engineers use HPC to simulate the performance of bridges and buildings under various environmental conditions, helping optimize designs while avoiding mistakes that would cost time and money to correct physically. Aerospace engineers likewise rely on HPC simulations of prototype aircraft to test them against real-world conditions without needing to fly them to an airport for physical testing.

HPC is also revolutionizing healthcare, speeding drug discovery and speeding time-to-market for new medicines. Furthermore, it can process large volumes of medical data much more efficiently than standard computers would, enabling doctors to diagnose patients faster and make better treatment decisions more rapidly.

Other industries also recognize HPC as an indispensable tool, using it to increase production efficiency and gain a competitive advantage. Manufacturing, for instance, uses HPC extensively to optimize production processes by identifying inefficiencies or conducting tests in virtual environments. It also anticipates demand fluctuations or supply issues before they impact sales.

Supercomputers may reach extreme speeds, but modern HPC solutions use high-performance CPUs and GPUs with all-flash storage and low-latency networking fabrics to achieve breakthrough performance levels at an affordable cost. This makes HPC available to businesses of all sizes. New platforms have also simplified HPC deployment and management by automating setup and resource allocation tools, enabling teams to focus on innovation rather than infrastructure issues.

In summary:



• Some of the most used high-performance computing applications in science and engineering include molecular dynamics, computational fluid dynamics, climate modelling, computational chemistry, and machine learning.
• HPC is used for tasks such as scientific simulations, data analytics, and machine learning.
• HPC solutions are used for various purposes across multiple industries. They can be deployed on-premises, at the edge, or in the cloud.

Benefits of High-Performance Computing

HPC technology provides unparalleled processing power, which is used to solve complex problems in the research, engineering, and business sectors. Furthermore, it plays a crucial role in fighting global issues like pandemics and climate change.



HPC helps organizations gain competitive advantages by rapidly and accurately analyzing data, drawing valuable insights, and making data-driven decisions. Furthermore, HPC enables businesses to reduce physical prototyping and testing costs by creating simulations. This technology is widely utilized across various industries, such as automotive, oil and gas, and aerospace, where simulations of crash tests can replace actual crash testing procedures.

HPC typically runs on a cluster of high-speed computer servers located both on-premises and in the cloud, though supercomputers are the most prominent type. Each supercomputer can process billions of floating point operations (flops) per second.

HPC solutions offer speed, scalability, and flexibility for large enterprises. By leveraging modern processors, GPUs, and low-latency networking fabrics, HPC can run massive computations quickly rather than weeks or months. This helps companies reduce costs by only paying for the resources they use while scaling them as necessary.

Healthcare professionals rely on HPC for DNA sequencing and data analysis. This enables them to quickly identify genetic markers linked to diseases and speed up screening techniques for life-saving treatments. HPC can also speed up drug discovery by simulating molecular interactions, significantly shortening the time it takes to market.

HPC has also helped accelerate the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) by providing the computational power necessary to train complex deep learning models. Together, AI and HPC are revolutionizing numerous industries - natural language processing, image recognition, autonomous vehicles and more are being transformed by this combination. With more organizations striving to accelerate innovation while making more informed decisions - especially those operating within sectors where errors may have drastic repercussions, such as defence or finance - demand for HPC is expected to continue rising as more organizations look for ways to expedite innovation by training complex deep learning models using HPC as part of an innovation acceleration strategy.

In summary:

• High-performance computing offers several benefits, including optimized performance, scalability, and reliability.
• HPC enables large-scale simulations, data analysis, and other compute-intensive tasks to be completed in a fraction of the time it would take on a single machine.
• HPC solutions can perform quadrillions of calculations per second much faster than a single laptop or desktop.

What are the Costs of Compute Network Storage in HPC?

HPC can be more costly than traditional computing because it requires additional hardware and software to meet high-demand workloads. It also requires a specialized IT team to design, install, and manage it, which can significantly increase costs. Furthermore, it consumes vast quantities of electricity while increasing operational expenses related to electricity use and cooling.



However, HPC can quickly recover its initial investment by shortening the time to solution and increasing productivity. Furthermore, physical testing could become obsolete in sectors like defence and finance, where errors have catastrophic repercussions, leading to lower test costs per test.

HPC computers employ parallel processing across a network of processors to carry out calculations concurrently and significantly speed them up. This drastically cuts processing times for tasks like climate modelling, financial simulations, and AI training, which require both speed and accuracy.

HPC technology allows us to solve problems more rapidly than traditional computing can, often in minutes. Modern CPUs and GPUs, along with low-latency networking fabrics and all-flash storage devices, allow complex calculations to be completed quickly compared with weeks or months in traditional computing environments.

HPC can accelerate scientific, technological, and business innovation to help us shape a bright future for all. Today's ecosystem is filled with data, which HPC in the cloud quickly processes for insights that bring forth new innovations. HPC helps companies predict market fluctuations and forecast business scenarios while helping scientists model potential outbreaks and decode cancerous cell genomes.

When calculating the true internal cost of HPC, it's essential to take a close look at both utilization rates and peak usage, then compare those costs against on-demand pricing for Rescale's HPC+ core type (the most widely adopted HPC solution). If your team supports peak usage at 100% utilization, for instance, this comes out to $0.38/core-hour in comparison with $0.15/core-hour on-demand pricing - representing an incredible value proposition!

IT teams looking to lower costs should opt for a cloud provider that constantly updates its infrastructure to optimize performance. This includes upgrades to computer processors, storage solutions, and management tools that give a granular view of costs. In addition, energy costs should also be considered; on-premise HPC solutions can cost millions annually in electricity use, whereas cloud providers that prioritize renewable energy solutions can significantly reduce these expenses.

Deploying HPC in the Cloud

• Cloud computing has grown in popularity as a way to offer computer resources, making HPC more accessible to those without on-premises infrastructure investments.
• Cloud HPC offers scalability, containerization, and other benefits, but security concerns like data confidentiality must be considered when deciding between cloud and on-premise resources.
• Azure NetApp Files meets the critical needs of high-performance computing environments, providing high-performance storage and scalability for demanding workloads.



Real-World Examples of HPC

• Climate models simulate the behaviour of the Earth’s climate, including the atmosphere, oceans, and land surfaces.
• The discovery and development of new drugs is a complex process that involves simulating millions of chemical compounds to identify those with the potential to treat diseases.
• Protein folding refers to the process by which proteins form three-dimensional structures that are critical to their function.
• Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations model the behaviour of fluids in real-world systems, such as the flow of air around an aircraft.



Emerging Trends in HPC

The field of high-performance computing (HPC) is constantly evolving, driven by emerging technologies and innovative approaches. Several trends are shaping its future, promising to unlock new possibilities and applications.



Future of High-Performance Computing

The future of HPC is anticipated to involve integrating artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other emerging technologies to enhance performance and efficiency. HPC will remain a vital component in scientific research, computational science, and engineering applications. As HPC continues to advance, it will be crucial to tackle challenges such as security, scalability, and energy efficiency.



Conclusion

High-performance computing is a powerful tool that enables researchers and scientists to perform complex calculations at high speeds. HPC has a wide range of applications across multiple industries, including scientific research, computational science, and engineering. As HPC continues to evolve, it will be important to stay up-to-date with the latest developments and advancements in the field.



Getting Started with HPC: Next Steps

Here are some ways you can get started in high-performance computing, including reading NVIDIA's free HPC e-book and HPC blogs.



If you want to deepen your understanding of HPC, consider enrolling in online courses or pursuing a degree in computer science, engineering, or a related field for a more comprehensive grasp of the subject