What is HPC?

Hardware? Software? Application? Network? Storage? Cooling? Services (as a Cloud, Grid …)? A discipline? An idea?

IMHO, the answer is yes, all of the above, plus plus plus … an industry, a community, a lifelong career, family, an art (as well as a science). Opportunity!

To me HPC is … boundless! HPC is constant change, learning and pushing limits … creating or (re)defining anything, everything… whether it’s new technologies or services, or application and breakthrough discovery. How so much can be packed into one tiny little acronym is astounding.

“97% of EVERYTHING is touched by HPC …”

Whether you’re currently studying or are a seasoned practitioner of STEM, that one pull quote from a Council on Competitiveness report underscores the importance and impact of what you do … and just how far reaching and influential HPC is…!

(Of course, even after all these years since it was first published, I still contemplate ‘what is the missing 3%?’)

Ironically, “What is HPC” is a game that I started in my youth and that I continue to play. A challenger names a company or any sort of pedestrian “thing” that comes to mind… then it’s up to the opponent to list ‘how’ that challenge is ‘touched by HPC’.

So what is HPC? My answer … what is NOT HPC?

Everything – from a finger roll through the cloud … creating, sharing, storing a Yotta data to the grand Exascience endeavors … streaming faves and picosecond searches … all of it – has been fueled by this tremendously entrepreneurial community. That is HPC!

We don’t think about CERN or NCSA when we use the web anymore – much as we don’t think about the Ping in our swing. HPC is just there, embedded. Fueling the stuff of limitless imaginations and endless possibilities.

So, what is HPC now and in the future?  Always a grand challenge … and our opportunity to continue to define … bring to the world … and why we launched StartupHPC!

What is your HPC? … Got an idea, opinion, expertise  … the promise of the next big ??? Bring it!

And bring your “What is HPC” challenge to me at our first Meetup in NoLA! I triple dog dare ya!