HPC Technology Survey 2021: Cloud Computing

September 15, 2021|Addison Snell, Dan Olds

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Intersect360 Research surveyed the High-Performance Computing (HPC) user community on a wide range of technology issues. The complete study analyzes users’ current computing systems, storage systems, networks, cloud computing usage, and selected purchasing criteria. Our goal in this analysis is to provide an overview of how HPC systems are configured, including the breadth of technologies most commonly used.

Intersect360 Research defines HPC as the use of servers, clusters, and supercomputers—plus associated software, tools, components, storage, and services—for scientific, engineering, or analytical tasks that are particularly intensive in computation, memory usage, or data management. Intersect360 Research reports available in this HPC Technology Survey report series include the following segmentations:

Server Technologies and Configurations: including system vendors installed, segmentation of systems into classes (entry-level, midrange, high-end, supercomputer), system interconnects, and usage of liquid cooling
Storage Technologies and Configurations: including total active HPC data; storage configurations spanning on-node, attached storage arrays, and cloud storage; parallel file system usage; and interdependence of storage and server elements for purchasing
Processing Elements—CPUs and Accelerators: including installations and user preferences for both CPUs and accelerators, independently and in combination, plus configuration options and interconnects
Cloud Computing: including proportion of computing and storage in public cloud for HPC and top named cloud vendors

This report provides a detailed examination of HPC users’ cloud computing strategies, current top cloud vendors, and the proportion of computing and storage in the public cloud for HPC. This analysis includes a breakdown of client segment opinions on cloud computing strategies along with their preferences among private cloud vendors.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3

INTRODUCTION 4

Methodology 4

What Is HPC? 5

Total Responses 5

Table 1: Total Estimated Clusters in Respondent Organizations 6

CLOUD COMPUTING 6

Definitions 6

HPC User Perceptions of Cloud Computing 7

Figure 1: Cloud Computing Impact on HPC On-Premises Computing 8

HPC Public Cloud Usage 9

Figure 2: Percentage of HPC in the Public Cloud 9

Table 2: Percentage of HPC in the Public Cloud: Commercial/Industrial 10

HPC Cloud Vendor Presence 10

Figure 3: Proportion of HPC Cloud Usage 10

CONCLUSIONS 11

APPENDIX A: SURVEY DEMOGRAPHICS 12

Table A1: Geographic Region of Respondent 12

Table A2: Economic Sector of Respondent Organization 12

Table A3: Number of Employees for Respondent Organization 12

Figure A1: Role of Survey Respondent in Organization 13

Figure A2: HPC Purchasing Responsibility of Respondent 13

Figure A3: Total Annual HPC Budget of Responding Organization 14

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