2

Dispatches from the trenches

•  We  want  …    –  More  bandwidth,  more  memory,  more  performance,  less  latency  

•  System  design  involves  many  tradeoffs,  and  boundary  condi9ons  –  Cost  –  Schedule  –  Power  consump:on  –  Chip  area  –  Bandwidth  –  Latency  –  …  

•  Each  chip  capability  has  a  footprint  and  power  budget  –  Defined  early  in  the  design  process  

•  Bo?lenecks  are  the  places  where  design  tradeoffs  can  make  a  difference    –  Key  is  to  iden:fy  where  app  is  being  limited  by  features,  and  where  tradeoffs  

can  impact  the  performance  or  scale  of  the  app  

Typical Custom HPC System Timeline

3

Technology  Assessment

Conceptual  Design  &  

ArchitectureChip  Layout

Detailed  Chip  Design

Simula:on  for  V&V

Fab

Inte-­‐grate  &  Test Fab

Systems  SoJware

Compilers  and  Libraries

Packaging  and  Thermal  Design

Re-­‐vise Tes:ng  at  

Scale

R&D

You  are  Here

Year  1 Year  2 Year  3 Year  4

4

Different kinds of confidential information

•  0-­‐6  month  advanced  product  previews  –  Easy  to  obtain;  not  much  help  with  app  development  

•  6-­‐18  month  roadmaps  –  Simple  NDA;  some  value  to  near  term  app  design  

•  Conceptual  design  of  a  future  product  –  Available  to  a  few  important  customers;  advance  feedback  

•  Broadly  par9cipate  in  engineering  tradeoff  decisions  –  Rare  opportunity  for  small  set,  e.g.,  Blue  Gene;  true  co-­‐design  

•  Deep  material  on  “crown  jewel”  technologies  –   Historically  employees  only;  protec:ng  secrets  limits  disclosure  to  a  

very  few  people  

5

Why we need a vendor-interaction model*

•  Enable  and  support  effec9ve  co-­‐design  of  hardware,  science  applica9ons,  and  the  system  soMware  stack  

•  Fully  protect  vendor  IP  •  Establish  processes  for  jointly  developed  IP  •  Help  guide  alloca9on  of  app  and  vendor  resources  •  Reduce  complexity  by  serving  as  a  template  for  mul9ple  projects  

*  Robert  Harrison  created  the  original  slide  deck  on  this  topic,  which  we  discussed  with  vendors  at  SC10  

6

Some things to consider

•  Exascale  co-­‐design  app  projects  are  not  legal  en99es  –  NDA  agreements  are  made  with  ins:tu:ons  

–  Most  NDAs  are  2-­‐way  (and  the  IP  operator  does  NOT  commute)  

•  Our  objec9ve  is  exascale  science  ASAP  –  Much  of  the  apps  work  may  be  vendor  neutral  

–  Produc:on  science  codes  will  be  open  source,  likely  GPLn  •  Vendor-­‐specific,  non-­‐0exclusive  license  possible  

•  Most  IP  usually  only  needs  to  be  protected  for  a  finite  period  of  9me  

8

! !

!"#$%&''

()*+,-./012,03,41)5,0154)6,23

7,0+)418 7,0+)419

()*+,-./01:;&13,<=18 ()*+,-./01:;&13,<=19

!"'>$# !"'>$#

!"##$%&""'()%*$+*,&-#%."##/%0$#$,012#"#+%.3'(%'.%*$.'"1&-*'$

4&"5678

9-#:#678

;&:#%<778 %=3*,#%<7784&"5%678 %9-#:#%678

9

•  Strict  firewall  between  NDA  teams  –  Each  “co-­‐design  NDA  team”  has  separate  staff  

•  Probably  at  different  ins:tu:ons,  and  •  Integrated  into  corresponding  exascale  associa:on  

–  In  the  figure  •  Dave  and  Alice  never  have  access  to  NDA  informa:on  

•  Mary  and  Steve  do  NDA  work  exclusively  with  one  vendor  each,  and  also  contribute  to  open  ac:vi:es  

•  Many  precedents  for  this  model  

10

•  The  leadership  team  will  need  to  be  exposed  to  some  level  of  NDA  informa9on  –  Nominally  not  very  deep,  but  enough  to  

•  Create/sense  opportuni:es  •  Plan  and  allocate  resources/staff  exper:se  •  Coordinate  with  exascale  associa:ons  

•  Excep9ons  should  be  infrequent,  but  we  must  expect  and  enable  them  –  Goal-­‐oriented,  not  process-­‐oriented  

11

•  Informa9on  must  flow  up  to  inform  overall  project  design  and  for  eventual  deployment  –  No  undocumented  informa:on  flows  through  filter;  only  approved  

reports/presenta:ons/code  (these  can  be  ins:tu:on/associa:on  private,  *project-­‐private,  or  public)  

–  Center  and  vendor  define  clearance  process  –  A  few  individuals  must  span  NDA  and  open  parts  of  the  project  

•  Essen:al  for  effec:ve  and  affordable  execu:on  •  Bear  special  responsibility  

*  Project  private  includes  those  ins:tu:ons  with  a  mul:-­‐way  NDA  with  the  vendor