Supercomputing to go [Information Technology HPC]

Supercomputing has long been regarded as a high-end technology for the big users with big applications and big processing needs. However, suppliers of supercomputers or high-performance computing (HPC) are now targeting a much wider audience, using a mixture of cheaper and more powerful hardware, sophisticated new system architectures, and software that allows resources to be shared or even rented online. Their overall aim is to reach users who might use one occasionally, but cannot afford a supercomputer of their own. The suppliers are not just reaching out to smaller versions of the current HPC user base, either; they hope to enable new markets and new groups of users. From cloud supercomputing through shared systems, to distributed HPC architectures, vendors such as Bull, Fujitsu, and SGI are offering to solve key computational problems and bring high-end power to bear for even quite small manufacturers, designers, and research groups.