At CloudScape VII, held in March 2015 in Brussels,Primeur Magazinehad the opportunity to interview Robert Jenkins, CEO and cofounder of CloudSigma, on Cloud computing and Big Data. CloudSigma was founded in 2009. The company was created because the founders wanted to create the same experience the customers were used to from the private Clouds but in a public Cloud setting. CloudSigma is a public Infrastructure-as-a-Service provider. Read further...

At CloudScape VII, held in March 2015 in Brussels,Primeur Magazinehad the opportunity to interview Joe Weinman, author of Cloudonomics. Joe Weinman talked about the evolution of his thinking from his first book "Cloudonomics" which was heavily focused on quantitive analysis from a cost and performance perspective to his new book, titled "Digital Disciplines", which will be out in Summer. It is the evolution from a sort of lower level of detailed quantitative analysis to something which is much more strategic. Ultimately, what Joe Weinman is trying to really understand is whether the Cloud is simply about technology and things like virtual server migration and setting up direct connect networks or is it something that can really much more broadly benefit businesses. He has come to the conclusion that the Cloud, together with social networks and social media, the Internet of Things, mobile and wireline networks, and Big Data and analytics, are all tied together to offer companies four major ways in which they can help with their competitive strategy. Read further...

It was a hot weekend around supercomputing in the Netherlands. A national newspaper, De Volkskrant, ran a short article stating that scientists were alarmed because of the fact that the Netherlands would not have money for an investment in a new national supercomputer in the order of 100 million euro and that they would not be able to do ground breaking science and to work on even larger supercomputers around the world. Dozens of news sites ran the same story. However, is it true? 100 million euro is an amount of money the Netherlands has never, ever invested in a single machine. Investments do not even come close to that number. So what is really happening? Read further...

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) has awarded Intel Federal LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Intel Corporation, a contract to deliver two next-generation supercomputers to Argonne National Laboratory. In addition, Cray Inc. has been awarded a subcontract from Intel to integrate and deliver the two next-generation supercomputers and associated storage at ALCF. U.S. Department of Energy Under Secretary for Science and Energy Lynn Orr announced the two new High Performance Computing (HPC) awards that continue to advance U.S. leadership in developing exascale computing. The announcement was made alongside leaders from Argonne National Laboratory and industry partners at Chicago's tech start-up hub, 1871. Read further...

IBM will offer its Bluemix platform for the NASA Space App Challenge Virtual Event to help developers rapidly build applications that contribute to space exploration and solve global challenges. IBM will also collaborate with NASA Space Apps Challenge events globally to offer mentorship, guidance and tutorials for Challenge participants; and will help foster innovation by granting free access to over a hundred unique Cloud-based services such as Watson analytics and Internet of Things (IoT) tools through Bluemix. Read further...

A key component of Oracle's comprehensive Big Data strategy, Oracle has unveiled Oracle Data Integrator for Big Data to help make Big Data integration more accessible and actionable for customers. This news follows closely on the heels of Oracle's recent Enterprise Big Data announcement and furthers Oracle's vision to enable Hadoop, NoSQL, and relational database technologies to work together and be deployed securely in any model - whether public Cloud, private Cloud, or on-premises infrastructure. Read further...

Building off of IBM's recent investment of $3 billion over the next four years to establish a new 'Internet of Things' (IoT) unit, IBM has launched new software and services to enable an ecosystem of partners and clients to more efficiently create, build and manage the connected products and systems at the heart of the IoT. Read further...

Codasip, an application specific instruction-set processor (ASIP) electronic design automation (EDA) tool and IP provider from Brno, has acquired Solid Sands' SuperTest, an industry-leading and large compiler test and validation suite for C and C++, to validate the quality of the LLVM-based compilers generated by their tools. Read further...

Anwar Osseyran and Merle E. Giles along with 11 leading experts from different industries and countries supply computer engineers and researchers with a state-of-the-art supercomputing reference. CRC Press's latest publication, "Industrial Applications of High Performance Computing: Best Global Practices" offers a global overview of high performance computing (HPC) for industrial applications, along with a discussion of software challenges, business models, access models (e.g., Cloud computing), public-private partnerships, simulation and modelling, visualization, Big Data analysis, and governmental and industrial influence. Read further...

RSC Group, a major developer and system integrator of innovative solutions for HPC and data centres, has increased its share by 80% in the latest edition of the Top50 list of the most powerful supercomputers in Russia and CIS, published on March 31st, 2015. RSC became the leader with 40% portion of Top10 systems and among all Russian HPC vendors in the rating. RSC has 9 supercomputers in the Russian Top50 list - three in Moscow - two at the Joint Supercomputer Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, JSCC RAS and one at Russian Hydrometeorological Agency, Roshydromet - two in Saint Petersburg at St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University, SPbSPU, two in Chelyabinsk at South Ural State University, SUSU, one in Dolgoprudny at Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, MIPT, and one in Volgograd at Volgograd State Technical University, VSTU. Read further...

Early registration at reduced rates is now open for ISC High Performance, the largest high performance computing forum in Europe. By registering now, attendees can save over 30 percent off the onsite registration rates. Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the ISC 2015 conference and exhibition will be held from July 12-16, 2015 at Messe Frankfurt. Read further...

After the success of the SHAPE Pilot Call in 2014, the PRACE Council decided to make SHAPE a permanent service of the PRACE Research Infrastructure. A second call for applications was launched on 10 November 2014 and closed on 15 January 2015. A Selection Committee consisting of representatives of the PRACE Industrial Advisory Committee (IAC), the PRACE Board of Directors (BoD) and the PRACE IP Project reviewed all applications and awarded 11 innovative projects submitted by European SMEs access to PRACE Tier-0 systems. Read further...

IBM and Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) celebrate a decade of collaboration since the prestigious Center of Supercomputing was established in April 2005. Through this collaboration, IBM has invested more than 10 million euro in joint research, technology transfer and training programmes. IBM's cooperation with the BSC-CNS dates back to 2000 when the Centro de Paralelismo de Barcelona (CEPBA), precursor of BSC-CNS, signed a four-year agreement with IBM to create the CEPBA-IBM Research Institute (CIRI) which specialized in deep computing. Read further...

An important step towards quantum teleportation was taken at TU Wien - Vienna University of Technology. By coupling photons to atoms, light in a glass fiber can be slowed down to the speed of an express train. For a short while it can even be brought to a complete stop. Read further...

ROIS, the Research Organization of Information and Systems, based in Tokyo signed MoUs on Data Centric Science research collaboration with European organisations, CSC - IT Center for Science, Finland; DSI - Data Science Institute, Imperial College London, UK; and EUDAT - European e-Infrastructure Project. The MoUs were signed on February 25 and 26 in Tokyo, and are expected to form the basis of further collaboration between the parties. Read further...

Researchers from across the University of Oxford will benefit from a new High Performance Computing system designed and integrated by HPC, Big Data management, storage and analytics provider, OCF. The new, Advanced Research Computing (ARC) central HPC resource is supporting research across all four Divisions at the University; Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences; Medical Sciences; Social Sciences; and Humanities. Read further...

Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor John Carey and other dignitaries have visited Ohio State's west campus to help unveil the Ohio Supercomputer Center's newest supercomputer platform - the HP/Intel Xeon Phi Ruby Cluster. Read further...

On April 6, U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) convened a celebration in honour of the second birthday of NCSA's Blue Waters supercomputer, which is used by scientists and engineers across the country to tackle challenging research for the benefit of science and society. Read further...

NCSA's Blue Waters supercomputer will be used by three research teams to gain new understanding of the deadly ebola virus, thanks to allocations provided through the National Science Foundation's Rapid Response Research programme. Read further...

With a $1.3 million grant from the Air Force Research Laboratory, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute will explore the design and potential of next-generation supercomputers that incorporate a highly efficient "neuromorphic" processor, which more closely represents the human brain in its architectural design. Read further...

A new study provides an inside look at the most powerful explosions in the universe: gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). These rare explosions happen when extremely massive stars go supernova. The stars' strong magnetic fields channel most of the explosion's energy into two powerful plasma jets, one at each magnetic pole. The jets spray energetic particles for light-years in both directions, at close to light speed. Read further...

The world's most powerful particle accelerator has begun its second act. After two years of upgrades and repairs, proton beams once again circulated around the Large Hadron Collider, located at the CERN laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland. With the collider back in action, the more than 1700 U.S. scientists who work on LHC experiments are prepared to join thousands of their international colleagues to study the highest-energy particle collisions ever achieved in the laboratory. These collisions - hundreds of millions of them every second - will lead scientists to new and unexplored realms of physics, and could yield extraordinary insights into the nature of the physical universe. Read further...

The University of Massachusetts Amherst has launched a new Center for Data Science that will coordinate and significantly expand its capacity for research, education and industry collaboration in support of the exploding demand for acquisition and analysis of "Big Data". Read further...

IBM scientists have demonstrated an areal recording density of 123 billion bits of uncompressed data per square inch on low cost, particulate magnetic tape, a breakthrough which represents the equivalent of a 220 terabyte tape cartridge that could fit in the palm of your hand. Read further...