High Performance Computing (HPC) refers to the practice of aggregating computing power in a way that delivers much higher horsepower than traditional computers and servers. HPC, or supercomputing, is like everyday computing, only more powerful. It is a way of processing huge volumes of data at very high speeds using multiple computers and storage devices as a cohesive fabric. HPC makes it possible to explore and find answers to some of the world’s biggest problems in science, engineering, and business.
Today, HPC is used to solve complex, performance-intensive problems—and organizations are increasingly moving HPC workloads to the cloud. HPC in the cloud is changing the economics of product development and research because it requires fewer prototypes, accelerates testing, and decreases time to market.
Why is HPC important?
HPC has been a critical part of academic research and industry innovation for decades. HPC helps engineers, data scientists, designers, and other researchers solve large, complex problems in far less time and at less cost than traditional computing.
The primary benefits of HPC are -
1. Reduced physical testing: HPC can be used to create simulations, eliminating the need for physical tests. For example, when testing automotive accidents, it is much easier and less expensive to generate a simulation than it is to perform a crash test.
2. Speed: With the latest CPUs, graphics processing units (GPUs), and low-latency networking fabrics such as remote direct memory access (RDMA), coupled with all-flash local and block storage devices, HPC can perform massive calculations in minutes instead of weeks or months.
3. Cost: Faster answers mean less wasted time and money. Additionally, with cloud-based HPC, even small businesses and startups can afford to run HPC workloads, paying only for what they use and scaling up and down as needed.
4. Innovation: HPC drives innovation across nearly every industry—it's the force behind groundbreaking scientific discoveries that improve the quality of life for people around the world.
Businesses and institutions across multiple industries are turning to HPC, driving growth that is expected to continue for many years to come. As cloud performance continues to improve and become even more reliable and powerful, much of that growth is expected to be in cloud-based HPC deployments that relieve businesses of the need to invest millions in data center infrastructure and related costs.
In the near future, expect to see big data and HPC converging, with the same large cluster of computers used to analyze big data and run simulations and other HPC workloads. As those two trends converge, the result will be more computing power and capacity for each, leading to even more groundbreaking research and innovation.
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