Important Aspects for HPC Infrastructure Solutions ... · Pure Price Battle (e-auction) Other ... Mainly use ISV applications (license costs to be considered!) ... COMSOL Multiphysics

0 Copyright 2017 FUJITSU

Important Aspects for HPC Infrastructure Solutions Procurements in Industry

Eric Schnepf


Agenda

Industry Segments

Large Enterprises, Medium-sized Firms, Small Companies

HPC @ Industry

HPC Procurements @ Industry

Integrated HPC Solutions

User Perspective

HPC Support Aspects


Industry Segments

Large Enterprises (e.g. leading car manufacturers)

HPC Usage for CAE applications is state of the art (for decades)

Medium-sized Firms (e.g. manufacturing companies)

HPC Usage is only partially state of the are

Small Companies (e.g. engineering consulting, suppliers)

Very often use workstations only, HPC regarded as too complex


HPC @ Large Enterprises

Well-established, productive HPC operations

Corporate HPC IT structure and team

Defined corporate HPC middleware stack, methods, tools

ISV applications and individual applications (own source)

Large enterprises often use ISV applications with corporate licenses

Provide HPC resources for various simulation applications and many end-users

Internal or external operations provider


HPC Procurements @ Large Enterprises

Mainly hardware driven

Some enterprises prescribe whole solution Pure Price Battle (e-auction)

Other enterprises prescribe performance requirements

Benchmark exercise (needs very good information exchange customer – vendor)

Benchmark effort should be reasonable

Challenge to compare different offered solutions

New delivery models

HPC as a service, HPC off premise – private cloud

Fair balance between risks and chances needed


HPC @ Medium-sized Firms

Varying degree of HPC expertise

HPC IT hosted at R&D department

Lack of skills Opportunity to offer professional services

HPC SW stack not always defined

Open source middleware in use

Mainly use ISV applications (license costs to be considered!)

Interest in cloud bursting possibility for peak HPC loads


HPC Procurements @ Medium-sized Firms

HPC Consultation for Solution Design is highly recommended

Vendors may use proven reference designs (application benchmarks?)

Customization according to specific customer needs

Consider existing HPC infrastructure (e.g. high-speed interconnect, storage)

Consider currently used middleware and application licenses

Willingness to change to vendor supported software?

Procurement should ask for a complete solution including HPC solution support

Willingness to pay for professional services and support?


HPC @ Small Companies

Lack of knowledge, or skilled HPC support staff

Lack of support by management

Financial barriers – budgets, system costs, other costs

Difficulties related to scaling

Mainly use ISV applications (license costs to be considered!)

Ease-of-use issues Tendency to continue with workstations for simulation


HPC Procurements @ Small Companies

HPC Consultation for Solution Design is highly recommended

Requirements?

Turn-around time for simulation jobs? Throughput?

Optimal use of existing application licenses

Integration into application workflows?

Linux or Windows?

Vendors may use proven reference designs or even ready-to-run solutions

Procurement should ask for a complete turn-key solution including middleware and solution support


PRIMEFLEX for HPC Integrated HPC Solutions

HPC Simplicity & Expertise

Management

software

User

workplace

Assembly, Test & Delivery

Integration & Support services

Ready-to-Run Solution Reference Architecture

HPC Gateway

HPC Gateway Add-ons

System

design Head node Compute nodes

Interconnect Graphics

Storage

Rack & Power

Batch Operation Administration


Vertical Solutions: Reference Architecture for Application Appliances

PRIMEFLEX for HPC Integrated HPC Solutions

Industry: CAE

Customers: Product

Manufacturing,

Engineering

Application: ANSYS Fluent

ANSYS CFX

Models: CFD

(Computational

Fluid Dynamics)

Industry: CAE, Physics-based

simulation

Customers: Product design,

Engineering,

Geophysics

Application: COMSOL

Multiphysics

Model: Geomechanics,

subsurface flow,

mechanics, chemical

Industry: Automotive,

Creative

Customers: Automotive OEM,

Creative agencies

Application: VRED

Models: 3D Visualisation,

real-time digital

prototyping


PRIMEFLEX for HPC Benchmarks to get reference architecture for best application performance


User Perspective: HPC Gateway makes Simulation easy

Intuitive interface

In-browser web desktop Save/retrieve desktop

workplace Self-defined layout

Dynamic Monitoring

Consolidated Application Data collection

Simple app editor, no programming

Guided user input parameters Save/retrieve input profiles

Remote Visualisation

Interactive lossless transmission of 3D graphics

Collaborative desktop sharing Multi-user mode

Fast simple 2D graphing Real-time job data Inline 3D imaging

Record and track usage Identify trends and links Optimise processes

Role-Based Security

Independent security layer Secure business objects Access by role, team, project

HPC GATEWAY Web Workplace


HPC Support Aspects

HPC specific support is required for all segments

Pure hardware maintenance (break/fix) is not sufficient

Software support depends on procurement contents

• OS subscriptions, middleware (e.g. job mgmt, cluster mgmt), parallel file systems

HPC Solution Support is recommended:

• Solution vendor provides support for the interaction between the various components: simulation application, middleware/libraries, OS, hardware (server, storage, interconnect)

• Even without direct responsibility to fix a certain problem with SLA a solution vendor can provide help in coordinating the analysis for an unclear problem

• e.g. provide help by using own HPC competence center

• Collaboration with involved technology partners


Important Aspects for HPC Infrastructure Solutions ... · Pure Price Battle (e-auction) Other ... Mainly use ISV applications (license costs to be considered!) ... COMSOL Multiphysics

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