High-performance computing, computer security conference coming May 23-25

Building the world’s fastest supercomputer will be among the topics discussed at the third National Conference on High Performance Computing Technology at Pellissippi State May 23-25.

The conference will provide a variety of programs, ranging from introductory- level to advanced tutorials, to business and industry executives, educators, vendors and computer system managers and users. Participants can learn about the latest advances in high-performance computer systems clusters and computer security.

The event is being offered at no charge at the Pellissippi campus.

Pellissippi State is one of only four community colleges in the nation making up the consortium of the National Center of Excellence for High Performance Computing Technology.

Among the speakers at the conference:

Tom Zacharia, associate director for computing and computational science at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, on “Building the World’s Fastest Supercomputer.”
Gordon Snyder, executive director of the National Center for Telecommunications Technology, who will discuss telecommunications and networking technology
Stan Ahalt, executive director of the Ohio Supercomputing Center, on “High Performance Computing in the New Economy.”

Information technology security experts from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, NaviSci, Cisco, Dell and the National Center for Telecommunications Technology will present the latest developments in computer security strategies.

Industry leaders in the field of cluster computing also will make presentations, and the use of high-performance computing technology in such areas as finance, manufacturing, retailing, law enforcement and government will be discussed.

Representatives of many of the country’s main computer systems and software manufacturers—Dell, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Apple, Microsoft—will speak and participate with exhibits.

High-performance computing clusters provide economical solutions for business, industry, institutional and government users to meet their information technology needs.

Because high-performance computer technology relies on clusters of computers, rather than a single computer unit, it offers greater flexibility and fewer maintenance issues. Computer downtime is kept to a minimum, cost-effectiveness is increased, and security against fraud and hacking is improved.

In addition to Pellissippi State, the other community colleges in the consortium are Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina; Maui Community College in Kahului, Maui, Hawaii; and Contra Costa College in San Pablo, California.

The National Center of Excellence for High Performance Computing Technology is based in Kihei, Maui. Among the partners in the center are Boeing, Cisco Systems, IBM, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The center is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Those interested in attending must register in advance at the national center’s Web site, www.highperformancecomputing.org. For additional information, call Pellissippi State’s Michael Lusk at 694-6508, Richard Barber at 694-6470 or Mike Hudson at 694-6416.

"Inside Pellissippi" is a bi-monthly electronic publication produced by the Community Relations Office for the faculty and staff of Pellissippi State Technical Community College, 10915 Hardin Valley Road, P.O. Box 22990, Knoxville, Tennessee 37933-0990. All suggestions and comments should be sent to Julia Wood (jwood@pstcc.edu).

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