Abstract
High Performance Computing (HPC) has over the last years benefitted from a continuous increase in speed of processors and systems. Over time we have reached Megaflops, Gigaflops, Teraflops, and finally in 2010 Petaflops. The next step in the ongoing race for speed is the Exaflop. In the US and in Japan plans are made for systems that are supposed to reach one Exaflop. The timing is not yet clear but estimates are that sometime between 2018 and 2020 such a system might be available. While we debate how and when to install an Exaflop system discussions have started about what we have to expect beyond Exaflops. There is a growing group of people who have a pessimistic view on High Performance Computing assuming that the continuous development might come to an end. However, we should have a more pragmatic view. Facing a change in hardware development should not be seen as an excuse to ignore the potential for improvement in software.
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Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Hans Meuer and his team for providing extremely valuable insight into the development of High Performance Computing over the last 20 years by collecting information in the TOP 500 list.
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Resch, M.M. (2013). Beyond Exaflop Computing: Reaching the Frontiers of High Performance Computing. In: Resch, M., Wang, X., Bez, W., Focht, E., Kobayashi, H. (eds) Sustained Simulation Performance 2012. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32454-3_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32454-3_1
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