A cloud is forming


Robert Roe investigates the growth in cloud technology which is being driven by scientific,


engineering and HPC workflows through application specific hardware


T


he cloud computing market has seen considerable development in the last few years, as users begin to adopt cloud technologies across


many business segments. However, the success of general purpose, enterprise cloud technology has hampered the uptake of cloud in HPC because it requires substantially more expensive hardware. As cloud providers could capitalise on this


‘low-hanging fruit’ in the enterprise, there was little to no reason for them to try and cater for more intensive computing demands of HPC users. However, as the cloud market has matured,


we have begun to see the introduction of HPC cloud providers and even the large public cloud providers such as Microsoſt are introducing genuine HPC technology to the cloud. Tis change opens up the possibility for new users that wish to either augment their current computing capabilities or take the initial plunge and try HPC technology without investing huge sums of money on an internal HPC infrastructure. Leo Reiter, CTO of Nimbix, shares his


views on the steps that cloud providers have taken to adapt to meet the requirements of HPC but also scientific and engineering users. Reiter stated: ‘Cloud computing has come a long way in recent years. Early on, your only choices were object storage and cheap, lightweight compute instances. Today we see myriad new options across all classes of service and for all types of users.’


18 SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING WORLD


A new breed of cloud infrastructure Increasing options and applications-specific cloud hardware are common themes among cloud providers in 2017. Many providers are moving away from this one size fits all model for HPC. Now they are deploying hardware or networking capabilities that match the needs of the user community. An example of this is the creation of


vScaler, a cloud computing company which aims to specifically address the needs of HPC users by providing cloud capabilities through both private and public clouds. David Power, CTO at vScaler, said:


‘vScaler is a project that we have been developing as a cloud-based HPC technology for the last three years. It is now being spun out as its own entity, and I am heading up that organisation from a technical standpoint regarding developing specific cloud products for HPC use cases. Power was keen to stress that this is the


same physical hardware you would see in an HPC cluster, from computing and storage to networking so users can access real HPC in the cloud: ‘It’s modern technology, the same physical hardware we would use to deploy physical HPC systems we have just put the cloud soſtware on top it to make sure we are maximising the performance that we can get.’ ‘Tat widens the potential use case for


cloud as people from HPC can now leverage the cloud to run a lot of their simulations.’


Tis is instead of the traditional method of procuring a data centre which can take months and cost considerable up-front investment. Te other benefit of the cloud is the flexibility it provides, when compared to the consumption model of traditional HPC. Power explained that vScaler has already


set up data centres across the UK, Ireland, and Germany and they expect to open more over the next two years. Tese new cloud services, which deploy high-performance servers linked through InfiniBand networks, are opening the door to HPC users who wish to make use of the cloud. ‘Many people are starting to get to the


limits of what you can do with a traditional, in-house cluster either because of power or staffing and managing these resources’ stated Power. ‘I think cloud provides not an alternative but a good way of augmenting your HPC capabilities with additional resources that are available on-demand.’ However, it is not only HPC users who


are taking up this offer. Power stressed that this cloud technology is also used by non-traditional HPC users who want access


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