Clearspeed Technology Share Discussion Threads

[tradx666] 06/3/2007 19:48

super,

It's why 'virtualization' and 'blades' deployments are climbing; DC consolidation is happening now; both physical and energy footprint are now critical; High performance Computing eats electricity 24x7, and often the only output is heat!

It is why the two processor giants are now all planning 'greener' roadmaps!

regards

T..

[supernumerary] 06/3/2007 19:00

We're not a double act - just the only ones awake.

From The Economist. Worth reading the whole thing here: although I'm not sure it's available to non-subscribers. If not, pop into your local WH Smiths...

Computing
Going green

Mar 1st 2007
From The Economist print edition
Is the growing power consumption of data centres a threat or an opportunity?

THE people, places and things inside Second Life, a thriving online world with millions of residents, may be imaginary-but the power consumption of the computers that maintain the illusion is all too real. Nicholas Carr, a business writer and blogger, recently worked out that each of the 15,000 or so residents logged in at any one time consumes electricity as a result of their activities in the virtual world almost as fast as the average inhabitant of Brazil does in real life. Second Life's residents, Mr Carr concluded, "don't have bodies, but they do leave footprints."

It is just one example of the growing concern over the increasing power consumption and environmental impact of computers, and in particular the warehouses full of corporate machines known as data centres. A study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, released last month, found that the power consumption of data centres doubled between 2000 and 2005, and now accounts for 1.2% of American electricity consumption, though other estimates put the figure at 4%. Companies now spend as much as 10% of their technology budgets on energy, says Rakesh Kumar of Gartner, a consultancy. (Only around half of this is used to run computers; much of it goes on cooling.) IDC, a market-research firm, says power consumption is now one of systems managers' top five concerns.

[...]

All this will take time. "It's all talk so far," says Mr Kumar. Energy costs will continue to rise and will rival annual hardware spending by 2010, Mr Scaramella predicts (see chart). As managers worry about energy costs, they will grow more interested in replacing old servers with new ones based on multi-core chips, installing more efficient power supplies and switching to more sophisticated cooling systems-in other words, buying lots of new gear. For vendors, mushrooming energy bills represent a big opportunity.

[tradx666] 06/3/2007 17:31

"IDC estimates the high performance supercomputing industry will grow from $9.2 billion in 2005 to $14 billion in 2010. "

All they have to do is win a few % of this!!

regards

T..

[tradx666] 06/3/2007 17:19

Cluster Computing:
IBM Targets Mid-Market for HPC Clusters
ARMONK, N.Y., Feb. 28 -- IBM announced today new initiatives designed to make it easier for clients to use "clusters" of servers for high-performance computing tasks. The company is investing in development, marketing and sales-channel programs that leverage IBM's technology prowess in high-end supercomputing and deep experience delivering industry-focused solutions.

"High performance computing (HPC) is rapidly spreading from science and academic research to smaller businesses and departments of larger enterprises that need better ways to process compute-intensive workloads," said Wendy McGee, director, IBM Cluster Solutions. "IBM plans to reduce the risk, time and costs associated with cluster installation and deployment. At the same time, we see new opportunities to leverage IBM's investments and technology expertise in supercomputing in the middle and lower tiers of the HPC industry."

Four key components of IBM's expanded HPC cluster initiatives include:

1) Pre-architected, snap-together solutions for key industries. IBM has initially targeted applications in the life sciences, computer-aided engineering (CAE) and finance domains for solutions built with industry-leading ISVs and delivered through Business Partners. These pre-engineered solutions will be built for Linux and/or Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 operating systems and will feature networking from leading vendors such as Cisco Systems. IBM draws on its extensive engineering and services experience delivering high-performance computing solutions to industries to speed the adoption of IBM solutions that call for x86-based clusters.

-- Working with Accelrys, a leading supplier of software and service
solutions to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and industrial chemical research
organizations, IBM is optimizing System x and BladeCenter
configurations for Discovery Studio. Discovery Studio is a comprehensive
suite of modeling and simulation solutions for protein modeling and
computational chemistry conveniently packaged into a single, easy-to-use
Linux- and Windows-based environments.

-- IBM has optimized hardware configurations for CAE applications from
the following ISVs: ABAQUS, ANSYS, Inc., ESI Group, Livermore Software
Technology Corporation (LSTC) and MSC.Software.

-- Working with Microsoft, IBM is architecting a cluster solution
targeted at the finance space featuring Microsoft Office Excel 2007
software. The solution will allow clients to use parallel processing on
clusters for mission critical calculations, freeing up client machines from
long-running calculations.

2) HPC ValueNet for IBM Business Partners. To bolster the ecosystem around clusters, IBM is introducing a new HPC ValueNet to incent and equip IBM Business Partners with the tools they need to bring cluster solutions to market. Tools include:

-- Joint marketing plans and incentives for ISVs and IBM Business
Partners.

-- Sizing guides with predefined cluster configurations for simple
ordering and set up, including templates that address two levels of cluster
configurations -- a standard configuration, where cost is the primary
decision factor, and enhanced configuration, where application performance
is the determining factor for purchase.

-- Accelerated delivery times and competitive pricing for cluster
components through IBM's Express Seller program.

-- Field support from the experts. IBM Business Partners have access to
IBM's Cluster Enablement Team for technical questions and advice.

3) New benchmarking and tuning centers dedicated to Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server. IBM has expanded its relationship with Microsoft to offer customers, software vendors and IBM Business Partners four new benchmarking facilities in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; Raleigh, N.C.; Beaverton, Ore.; and Montpelier, France. These new centers join a network of global Linux benchmark centers.

4) On-Demand Test-Drive Facility. Customers interested in moving to a clustered environment can quickly test-drive their HPC applications in IBM's Deep Computing Capacity on Demand centers. With access to over 20,000 processors, customers large and small can tap into IBM Systems to help accelerate time to market and improve quality while helping to keep fixed costs to a minimum.

About IBM Clusters

HPC clusters can range from as few as two to thousands of servers woven together to deliver high-speed performance demanded by a broad range of applications. IBM hardware offerings in this space include System x, System p and BladeCenter servers and IBM System Storage, as well as the IBM System Cluster 1350, an integrated, factory built and tested cluster with networking from leading vendors. With the inclusion of the Cell Broadband Engine and ClearSpeed Advance accelerator boards, IBM offers customers hybrid cluster architecture options -- bringing to bear a whole new level of coprocessor capability.

Hardware components feature key technology innovations including the industry's first "snap in" scalable blade, Xcelerated Memory Technology and PowerExecutive, an industry-first energy management technology, which enables clients to meter and cap the amount of power used by a single server or groups of servers to optimize energy use and application performance.

For more information about IBM Clusters, go to

[tradx666] 06/3/2007 17:17

Breaking News:

NVIDIA Releases New High Performance Graphics Cards
SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 5 -- NVIDIA Corporation, the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies, today unveiled a new line of professional graphics solutions: NVIDIA Quadro FX 4600, Quadro FX 5600, and NVIDIA Quadro Plex VCS Model IV. Armed with the largest increase in GPU power and functionality to date, these solutions are designed to help solve the world's most complex professional graphics challenges.

Tackling the extreme visualization challenges of the automotive styling and design, oil and gas exploration, medical imaging, visual simulation and training, scientific research, and advanced visual effects industries, these new Quadro solutions offer:

Next-Generation Vertex and Pixel Programmability--Shader Model 4.0 enables a higher level of performance and ultra-realistic effects for OpenGL and DirectX 10 professional applications


Largest Frame Buffers--Up to 1.5 GB frame buffers deliver throughput needed for interactive visualization and real-time processing of large textures and frames, enabling the superior quality and resolution for full-scene antialiasing (FSAA)


New Unified Architecture--Industry-first unified architecture capable of dynamically allocating compute, geometry, shading and pixel processing power for optimized GPU performance


GPU Computing for Visualization--Featuring NVIDIA CUDA technology, developers are, for the first time, able to tap into the high-performance computing power of Quadro to solve complex, visualization problems

"Today's cutting-edge gaming and film experiences are built around tremendous 3D imagery. Designing this content requires high quality real-time feedback regardless of complexity," said Bill Roberts, director of product management at Softimage Co. "NVIDIA's support of shader Model 4.0 combined with the real-time shader architecture of SOFTIMAGE|XSI allows game developers to quickly create advanced visual effects for the Microsoft Vista OS by providing the most accurate visual feedback. Also the massively scalable visual compute power provided by CUDA is what fuels modern software architectures like SOFTIMAGE|XSI and Face Robot, built on our unique Gigapolygon core, which are inherently designed to take advantage of parallel computing power."

Additional features in the new Quadro solutions include faster 3D texturing and massive 8Kx8K texture processing for better performance when zooming and panning of high-resolution images; NVIDIA SLI technology for improved graphics performance; dual dual-link display connectivity; and NVIDIA PureVideo technology for outstanding picture clarity, smooth video playback, and accurate color and precise image scaling for SD and HD content. NVIDIA GSync and HD SDI options are also offered.

"We bundle NVIDIA Quadro solutions with our kernel technology to accelerate simulations in the electromagnetic and energy markets," says Ryan Schneider, CTO for Acceleware Corp. "The CUDA SDK exposes an exciting new compute model that will help Acceleware to continue to make our products faster each year. This will also help our customers, including major cell phone and medical device designers, get their products to market faster, better and stronger."

NVIDIA Quadro solutions are widely available through leading OEMs such as HP, Dell, IBM, and Sun; leading workstation system integrators; and NVIDIA channel partners PNY Technologies (US and EMEA), Leadtek (APAC) and Elsa (Japan). For more information about the full lineup of NVIDIA professional solutions, please visit www.nvidia.com/quadro. The Quadro FX 4600 has a MSRP of $1995 and the Quadro FX 5600 has an MSRP of $2999.

NVIDIA Corporation

NVIDIA Corporation is the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies. The Company creates innovative, industry-changing products for computing, consumer electronics, and mobile devices. NVIDIA is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA and has offices throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas. For more information, visit www.nvidia.com.

[tradx666] 01/3/2007 08:59

Well my latest info from industry contacts is that within the HPC segment of their business in the UK, that they have done almost no business through this latest round of funding to the universities - which, if true seems almost bizarre! I'm told that Cambridge University will be announcing shortly that they have the most powerful solution in the Uk, and that csd are not involved...

Nvidia have now released their compilers for their GPU's, and at around $750-1000 per add-in board, life looks like it is going to get very sticky for the chaps here..

If all of the above proves to be true (any followers, should do their own research!)....then this trend will accelerate, not slow down imho..!

I cannot believe that they didn't win anything in academia in the UK through this HPC funding round!?!!

regards

T..

[tradx666] 23/2/2007 14:31

mdrans1,

Not entirely doomed, but certainly there is still a general downwards pressure whilst they attempt to justify their valuation....

God help this lot of EK finds this share, it will be halved in a matter of weeks..unless of course they can positively surprise with a large leap in revs in March...

regards

T..

[supernumerary] 21/2/2007 20:52

lol. you'll know better next time :-)

[mdrans1] 21/2/2007 20:48

So there we have it, short of a miracle, all longs are doomed. That will teach me to chip in.

[supernumerary] 21/2/2007 20:28

mdrans - I agree it seems to have settled into a groove. It's been very quiet on the news front for a while and I guess that's leaving people indecisive - no reason to buy but none to sell unless forced either. I'm not sure the obv is a very useful indicator when the volume is so low - over the last 21 days advfn shows, the average volume has probably only been 2-3K shares and many days had no trading at all.

In the absence of good news it will at some point break to the downside as a big holder gives up and goes looking for a better opportunity. I would say the concern is that to be considered good enough to reawaken interest and move the price, news would have to be not just a one-off order or another agreement, but solid evidence of revenue and profit flow.

Preliminary results came out at the end of March last year, so assuming it's the same this year, I would expect that to give a much better insight into current trading.

[mdrans1] 21/2/2007 18:08

OK super.

Looking back at the price over the last three months, the down trend is levelling off and the On Balance Volume shows a positive divergence. This suggests there are still some optimists about and a change of trend may be due. The down trend stated after the results in March 06. Perhaps March 07 will see it start to move up.

[supernumerary] 21/2/2007 16:27

mdrans1 - no, but the board's quiet - no reason not to have a gentlemanly exchange of views. Do join in if you have anything to say.

[mdrans1] 21/2/2007 15:53

Are you two a double act?

[tradx666] 21/2/2007 15:40

super,

I have never seen any reason on an anonymous BB to try and ramp/deramp a position overtly, it always seemed to me to be totally and utterly transparent and counter productive. However, I do believe in building a logical reason for your change in stance/position!

I too would like them to do well, I know a few of the senior execs, and one of their funders, but I do think that they have failed to grasp the opportunities they have had; I would estimate that in '06 around £200 million was spent on HPC in the UK alone (probably over 70% still academia), and yet they failed miserably (Apart from their pet University i.e. Bristol - where I know that their relationship is errmmmm 'close') to achieve any significant wins.

They simply did not grasp that their impact should have been on the bangs for buck front i.e. their solutions v more nodes...and should have slashed their prices accordingly and ran 'good code classes' with all potential users to encourage use...yes, there losses would have been bigger, but so would their number of shipments and their customer base, and they would have had a much bigger impact.

As for the killer-ap application space, they have talked a good talk on one or two but imho failed to execute. If it is not HPC type solutions that they target, there is very little else imho worth chasing.

Unless there is a sea change in their marcoms/R&D/sales strategy I see this sinking further after the next set of numbers...growth is imho stumbling at best here..

I wish you luck.

As always, time will tell.

regards

T..

[supernumerary] 21/2/2007 15:16

tradx - 'and yes I do short :-)' - I think I'd probably guessed that already :-). I have no problem with shorts, although a lot of them seem to make it their ambition in life to be as unpleasant as possible, which is not an endearing characteristic. But the filter button works pretty well.

Ref my short of the year, as it happens the share price didn't fall as much as I expected, but then I also thought ek or one of his ilk might have got his teeth into it. If they had (and I still think it's a risk) then there really would have been blood on the floor.

I'd like these guys to do well - I watched the death of the British mainframe computer industry from close quarters and have no desire to see the trend continue. Unfortunately their major sales proposition is based on lower total cost of ownership and from what I can see their potential customers want speed and don't care very much about operating costs - they probably come out of someone else's budget anyway, lol.

Personally I think they need to find an application where the customers are crying out for what they supply, and I don't think it's hpc. Time will tell...

[tradx666] 21/2/2007 11:25

supernumeracy,

We are in broad agreement on both fronts...although it was not quiet 'short of the year' - and yes I do short :-)

As for not beating a path to CSD's door, I suspect it would and should have been on all HPC's buying community if it had driven down the cost and broadened it's appeal. There is no doubt in my mind that Steve Mc gets this - but will he have the support of the board to change the policy...? They certainly have the cash in the short term to do so imho...if and when they do, then it would imho be a raging buy again....

regards

T..

[supernumerary] 21/2/2007 11:14

tradx666 - no axe to grind here - just thought it was interesting. As you know I've been sceptical about csd's chances since long before you, but kept watching for a long time thinking I might buy a few if the price got reasonable. Sadly it didn't, and I gave up and mentally nominated it as my 'short of the year' for 2006, so now I only watch from interest (no I don't short, or trade much for that matter).

What Intel do with the sort of advances described in this news release doesn't really bother me (except as a user of PCs who needs all the power he can get), but all serve to marginalise csd's position even more, since they're focused on higher performance, lower power consumption, lower heat generation. It's clear that the world is not beating a path to csd's door, and as far as I can see they have ever less reason to do so.

[tradx666] 21/2/2007 10:14

supernumracy,

Sorry, but this 'story' is to a large degree 'Intel spin' (and they are good at that)..as soon as the equipment to tape-out and build a fab process are developed, the whole semi-conductor industry will have access to the technology...at best, this may give Intel a 12 months lead, and if anything what this may well end up exacerbating further is the lag/trade off with i/o and all-on chip designs. In terms of Intel's/the industries ability to develop higher multiple cores on a chip this does have significance for the HPC segment (as it would lesson the argument for performance augmentation by 'add-in' off-set processors such as CSD's), but even here, one would have to question the financial sense for Intel to do so ...

regards

T..

[supernumerary] 13/2/2007 17:37

Interesting developments in chip fabrication under way.



Julie Keefe for The New York Times
Intel, the world's largest chip maker, has overhauled the basic building block of the information age, paving the way for a new generation of faster and more energy-efficient processors.

Company researchers said the advance represented the most significant change in the materials used to manufacture silicon chips since Intel pioneered the modern integrated-circuit transistor more than four decades ago.

The microprocessor chips, which Intel plans to begin making in the second half of this year, are designed for computers but they could also have applications in consumer devices. Their combination of processing power and energy efficiency could make it possible, for example, for cellphones to play video at length - a demanding digital task - with less battery drain.

The work by Intel overcomes a potentially crippling technical obstacle that has arisen as a transistor's tiny switches are made ever smaller: their tendency to leak current as the insulating material gets thinner. The Intel advance uses new metallic alloys in the insulation itself and in adjacent components.

Word of the announcement, which is planned for Monday, touched off a war of dueling statements as I.B.M. rushed to announce that it was on the verge of a similar advance.

I.B.M. executives said their company was planning to introduce a comparable type of transistor in the first quarter of 2008.

[...]

Several analysts said that the technology advance could give Intel a meaningful advantage over competitors in the race to build ever more powerful microprocessors.

"It's going to be a nightmare for Intel's competitors," said G. Dan Hutcheson, chief executive of VLSI Research. "A lot of Mark Bohr's counterparts are going to wake up in terror."

An I.B.M. executive said yesterday that the company had also chosen hafnium as its primary insulator, but that it would not release details of its new process until technical papers are presented at coming conferences.

"It's the difference between can openers and Ferraris," said Bernard S. Meyerson, vice president and chief technologist for the systems and technology group at I.B.M. He insisted that industry analysts who have asserted that Intel has a technology lead are not accurate and that I.B.M. had simply chosen to deploy its new process in chips that are part of high-performance systems aimed at the high end of the computer industry.

[tradx666] 13/2/2007 09:14

t20,

I suspect that are going to need a few more than just SA to be able to meet increased revenue expectations. They need to be driving down production costs now, or they will imho be in danger of being marginalised in the 'bang for buck' stakes.

regards

T..

[taylor20] 06/2/2007 08:29

South African Supercomputer Will Include ClearSpeed Boards

BRISTOL, England, Febuary 5, 2007 -- ClearSpeed Technology (LSE:CSD), the world leader in acceleration technology for high performance computing (HPC), today announced that the company is part of a $1.4 million contract to provide the first national supercomputer to South Africa's Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC). The supercomputer, funded by the South African Department of Science and Technology and supplied by IBM, was deployed in late January at the CHPC primary node located in Cape Town. The CHPC is a division of the Meraka Institute, a national research centre of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)...

[tradx666] 31/1/2007 18:20

Stephen,

congrats...now you will have to make it perform...there was only so long you could fire the arrows upwards! LOL!

regards

T..

[Abuse team] 17/1/2007 07:47

Post removed by ADVFN

[tradx666] 17/1/2007 07:47

mdrans1,

Ok, then, LIFE is looking up! LOL!

well it's good to see that they appear to have made some progress in respect of the 'launch'...however, the increase in sales revs is due to the completion of almost just 1 deal....I'm glad they think the 'product launch' was well received - now let's see if it turns into any sort of pipeline..my sources in HPC world are still telling me that they see almost no local visibility of sales other than to their pet Uni on their doorstep..and seem to have been passed over on an awful lot of deals you would have thought that should have had a piece of.

As you can tell, I think this TU is well constructed, but less than frank!

As always, time will tell.

regards

T..