@HPC Podcast Archives - OrionX.net - HPC News Bytes – 20240115

Episode Date: January 15, 2024

- RIKEN Hybrid Quantum-HPC Platform with Quantinuum - Google in $1.67B AI Chip Patent Infringement Trial - Crack in Cloud Egress Fees - ORNL Post-Exascale RFP for next generation OLCF-6 to be delivered in the 2027 time frame - HPE Acquires Juniper Networks [audio mp3="https://orionx.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/HPCNB_20240115.mp3"][/audio] The post HPC News Bytes – 20240115 appeared first on OrionX.net.

Welcome to HPC NewsBytes, a weekly show about important news in the world of supercomputing, AI, and other advanced technologies. Hi, everyone. Welcome to HPC NewsBytes. I'm Doug Black. Hi, Shaheen. Let's start off with the RIKEN Research Institution and Supercomputer Center in Japan announced that quantum computing company

Quantinuum will provide access to its technology. And, you know, given RIKEN's standing in the world of research and computer science, this is an interesting development and a possible blow to those in the quantum will never come to anything crowd. Would you say, Shane? Well, I think RIKEN's project is important because it's a strong effort to integrate quantum computing into supercomputing by a very respected institution. And that will be increasingly the norm, by the way, around the world. And there are examples of it already springing up. As for the doubters, quantum technologies are an important area of discovery in general,

and the progress in the science and engineering of quantum computing is very significant. It is healthy to be careful, but I get the sense that most people in quantum computing understand the state of the technology and know why they are in it. Google made news in two ways this week. First is about the fees to take data out of the cloud, which is typically expensive and locks users in. Google now provides a way to apply to waive these egress fees for users who want to terminate their Google Cloud activities. It makes it less expensive for users to repatriate their data or to take their business to another cloud platform,

but it looks like they need to leave completely. It doesn business to another cloud platform, but it looks like they need to leave completely. It doesn't quite solve the problem, but it puts a crack on egress fees and that's significant. The other news is a patent lawsuit against Google that includes, if not focused on, what the lawsuit refers to as low precision, high-dynamic range LPHDR numerical format and arithmetic, including the BFloat 16 format that is used in AI. Google is the defendant in an AI chip patent infringement lawsuit filed by Joseph Bates, founder of Singular Computing of Cambridge, Mass. The case has gone to trial, and according to a story from Reuters, Bates claims he shared processor ideas with Google from 2010 to 2014 that then showed up in Google's tensor processing units used for AI functionality

in Google Search, Gmail, Google Translate, and other services. Bates seeks damages amounting to $1.67 billion. The Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, home of Frontier, the world's number one supercomputer, issued a draft requirements document for the OLCF-6 post-exascale HPC capability to be delivered by 2027. It calls for a power budget of between 30 and 40 megawatts. The option of a frontier upgrade has been removed and cloud vendors can bid. Shaheen, any initial thoughts? Yeah, the draft outlines three application areas, modeling and simulation, AI, and integrated research infrastructure, IRI, which we have discussed in the past, and it's very exciting. It includes benchmarks in seven categories, including AI workflow. Comments on the draft

are due on February 16th, and the final request for proposal, RFP, is to be released in early Q2, a very significant development for the very high end. HPE announced that it will acquire Juniper Networks, one of the leading network and telecom equipment companies out there. HPE announced that it will acquire Juniper Networks, one of the leading network and telecom equipment companies out there. HPE has a long record of acquiring deep tech companies that can design systems, the way I put it. SGI and Cray are big examples in the HPC market. It is an all-cash transaction totaling about $14 billion. They spun it as an AI-driven decision, but AI data traffic and access patterns have not quite gelled yet, so it's best to spun it as an AI-driven decision, but AI data traffic and access patterns have not quite gelled yet. So it's best to see it as a boost to HPE's interconnect networking and telecom

portfolio. HPE's previous acquisitions in this area include 3Com in 2010 and Aruba Networks in 2015. Yeah, in his comments on the deal, HPE CEO Antonio Neri said the acquisition is intended to strengthen HPE within macro AI trends and help bridge the AI native and cloud native worlds. And you know, it's easy to forget that HPE said several years ago that the company with its GreenLake platform is a cloud-first company. Okay, that's it for this episode. Thank you for joining us. HPC Newsbytes is a production of OrionX in association with InsideHPC. Shaheen Khan and Doug Black host the show. Every episode is featured on InsideHPC.com and posted on OrionX.net. Thank you for listening.