The Challenges of Petascale Architectures

In 2008, the first petaflops systems went into operation. Such systems will eventually mature into petascale systems capable of 1,000 times more general computation than robust terascale systems. To achieve this, we need architectures that are inextricably intertwined with both technology and applications. This article looks at the architectural trail that allowed such systems to be built, focusing on how they interact with application characteristics.