[Beowulf] Definition of HPC

[Max R. Dechantsreiter]

Ellis,

>> As to your "Issue #2:"
>> 
>> "Owned compute" has some advantages over "rented compute."  In general, the
>> control one has over one's owned resources enables applications to run with
>> greater performance.  Some optimizations just demand root access!
>
> Although I hear those who have responded to this, this is particularly true 
> in my case as a systems researcher.  Not only is my research impossible to 
> optimize without root access, it's impossible to perform whatsoever.  Because 
> of that I am constantly at odds with my IT dept at PSU.  Hence the NAS server 
> and small beo-cluster in my home...

I have had similar experiences - academic IT departments are the worst!

> Are there any people out there that provide rented, but more traditionally 
> "HPC" compute (as in, it has Infiniband, huge memory, no virtualization, fast 
> NAS storage, etc)?  I'm not sure there is a huge market for it, but it would 
> be an interesting and differentiated offering.

Yes, there are.

Regards,

Max