Distinguished Lecture Series

OMI: The Invisible Technology that will Revolutionize Supercomputing and AI

Prof. Harm Peter Hofstee
Delft University of Technology
Distinguished Research Staff, IBM Austin Research Laboratory

3:00pm Thursday 14 February, 2019, ITE325, UMBC

In this talk, we present some major trends in compute, memory/storage, and networking, and for each we will discuss how OpenCAPI Memory Interface (OMI) and related interface technologies are set to transform how we build, program, and think about our computer systems. For the first of these trends, it allows us to compensate for the reduced growth in processor performance (per dollar) and performance per Watt. Accelerators are sharing memory and other resources over NVLink or OpenCAPI with conventional IBM POWER cores and are driving performance in the world’s largest supercomputers and IBM’s systems are targeting AI and other workloads. The second addresses the reduced improvement in memory cost and capacity. OMI allows us to use technologies other than DRAM as memory, and because many of these technologies are nonvolatile, the line between memory and storage is becoming blurred. The third, OpenCAPI-based networking leverages the rapid improvements in cost per Gb/s and allows us to contemplate systems that extend memory beyond the node using commodity infrastructure.

Harm Peter Hofstee is a Dutch physicist and computer scientist who currently is a distinguished research staff member at the IBM Austin Research Laboratory, USA, and a part-time Professor in Big Data Systems at Delft University of Technology, Netherlands. Hofstee is best known for his contributions to Heterogeneous computing as the chief architect of the Synergistic Processor Elements in the Cell Broadband Engine processor used in the Sony PlayStation 3, and the first supercomputer to reach sustained Petaflop operation. His early research work on coherently attached reconfigurable acceleration on POWER7 paved the way for the new coherent attach processor interface on POWER8. Hofstee is an IBM Master Inventor with more than 100 issued patents and a member of the IBM Academy of Technology. Hofstee was born in Groningen and obtained his master’s degree in theoretical physics of the University of Groningen in 1988. He continued to study at the California Institute of Technology where he wrote a master’s thesis Constructing Some Distributed Programs in 1991 and obtained a Ph.D. with a thesis titled Synchronizing Processes in 1995. He joined Caltech as a lecturer for two years and moved to IBM in the Austin, Texas, Research Laboratory, where he had staff member, senior technical staff member and distinguished engineer positions.

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The Shriver Center still has some opportunities available for UMBC students interested in Service-Learning & Community Engagement for the spring 2019 semester:

The Summer 2019 Orientation season is approaching and the Office for Academic and Pre-Professional Advising is looking for new members to join its team of orientation advisors! 

 Faculty, staff and graduate students are invited to apply. 

Graduate students and 9½-month faculty members will receive up to $100.00 per session.

12-month faculty members' compensations will be sent to their departments.

Staff members are not eligible to receive additional compensation, but they will have an opportunity to improve their advising competencies, work with a diverse body of students, and enhance their leadership and interpersonal skills.  

Comprehensive training will be provided for all orientation advisors on June 4 and 5.

Want to learn more about this opportunity? Attend an info session:

February 27, 2019    12:00pm-12:45pm   SHER 220 (B-WING)

March 13, 2019         12:00pm-12:45pm   SHER 220 (B-WING)

March 27, 2019         12:00pm-12:45pm   SHER 220 (B-WING)

April 10, 2019            12:00pm-12:45pm   SHER 220 (B-WING)

April 24, 2019            12:00pm-12:45pm   SHER220 (B-WING) 

We are currently accepting new applications through May 1st.

Contact Monique Ransom, Asst. Director, OAPA at mransom@umbc.edu or (410)455-2451 with questions.

Hello ISCOMers,

We begin our Cybersecurity month TODAY with Dr. Forno who will discuss the foundations of modern cyber defense, the current threats that governments and independent organizations face, and career prospects within the world of cybersecurity. Find us in ITE 241 from 12:00-12:50pmTODAY and don't miss out!

Hope to see you all there!