ISSUE 112 JUNE/JULY 2010
CONTENTS
Oil exploration
NEWS
European research network expanded; Abbott completes Starlims acquisition; forensics teams turns to LIMS
BEST BEHAVIOUR
Felix Grant on how statistical software is used to monitor the social behaviour of the animal kingdom and more
HPC Products
THE WORLD UNDER CONTROL 12
Greg Blackman on the informatics challenges faced by global pharma companies
SMOOTH OPERATORS
Paul Schreier on the latest applications in turbulence modelling
NEW PRODUCTS DIARY DATES SUPPLIERS’ DIRECTORY INSIDE VIEW
Jill Matzke, senior manager of advanced platforms at SGI
51 57 57 58 46
A brief update of the latest HPC software and hardware
Digging for black gold
Stephen Mounsey on the use of HPC in oil and gas exploration
Speed merchants
Paul Schreier on the challenges of multicore programming
The sky’s the limit
Stephen Mounsey defi nes and explores cloud computing
ISC’10 preview
Exhibitor highlights from the upcoming show in Hamburg
HPC Director 44
Dr Oz Parchment, IT infrastructure
services manager, Univ. of Southampton
EDITORIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM Editor: Warren Clark (
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Go with the fl ow
HPC PROJECTS
A section for users and managers of HPC systems
HPC News 18
The latest news in high- performance computing
20
46
LEADER
Gearing up for ISC’10
The International Supercomputing Conference, which takes place during the fi rst week in June in Hamburg, represents Europe’s main meeting place for the high performance computing community to meet, exchange ideas, and look at the next generation of software and hardware. It was at this event, two years ago,
that Scientifi c Computing World
confi rmed its position as the magazine best placed to bring a market – that of high performance computing – to a readership of scientists and engineers thirsty for information on this new breed of computing and how it could help accelerate their research projects. So, HPC Projects was introduced,
and is now a fi rm fi xture in the magazine – and a popular one too. We have expanded our coverage to refl ect those applications for whom HPC brings the most benefi ts, and also run a regular feature strand on the underlying technology of HPC, to give you a better understanding when it comes to discussing with your IT director the exact specifi cations for your particular HPC needs. In this issue, for example, we look at oil and gas applications, investigate what cloud computing can do for your research, and delve into the world of multicore optimisation.
If you’re picking this magazine up
for the fi rst time at ISC’10, you can receive this magazine for free on a regular basis by visiting
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Warren Clark
Cover: Montage by Dan Taylor
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SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING WORLD JUNE/JULY 2010
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