High-performance computing: An overview

High performance computing system with blue lights

In today’s digital world, where technology is ever-evolving, more and more data is being generated. Where is this large volume of information being stored? This big amount of data is processed and analyzed with the help of high-performance computing systems, which have the ability to perform complex calculations at high speeds.

What is high-performance computing?

High-performance computing (HPC) is the ability to receive, process and store extensive quantities of information in a short amount of time. HPC is the key to groundbreaking scientific discoveries, and medical advancements and is recently being used across other industries and businesses. High performance computing companies offer solutions for highly reliable IT infrastructure to process, store, and analyze massive amounts of data. The hardware structure or architecture of supercomputing systems determines their efficiency, so let’s have a look at these systems’ designs.

HPC system designs

Below are the HPC designs currently used:

  • Parallel computing: made by hundreds of processors, with each processor running calculation payloads simultaneously.
  • Cluster computing: consists of a collection of computers working together as an integrated resource.
  • Grid and distributed computing: used to connect the processing power of multiple computers within a network. 

How does HPC work?

HPC is formed by networking together computer servers into a cluster. HPC clusters can work out AI inference, extreme-scale simulations or data analyses, which cannot be done on a single system. Simply put, HPC uses all available resources to complete a vast number of jobs at once in contrast to standard computers where the next job or transaction happens only after the computer completes the previous one (transaction by transaction basis).

The takeaway

To stay ahead of the competition with the solutions for highly reliable digital infrastructure to process, store, and analyze massive amounts of information, businesses and institutions are turning to HPC. Whether we talk about the evolution of our universe, weather prediction, or are still blown away by the special effects in the recent movie we saw, we have HPC to thank for.

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