| dc.description.abstract | Over that last 3 decades, we have witnessed a transition from closed software ecosystems being the
foundation for HPC, enterprise, and business to open source software ecosystems based on Linux:
from Arduino in the IoT space, to Android in the mobile space to Linux in HPC and cloud-based systems
with various Open Source Software projects built on top. However, when examining hardware, current
commercial off the shelf solutions are closed hardware ecosystems that only enable integration at the
peripheral (PCIe) level. The combination of current technology trends, the slowing of Moore’s Law,
and cost prohibitive silicon manufacturing inhibit significant power-performance gains by relying on
traditional closed ecosystems, especially in HPC, technology pushed to the extreme. This new regime
forces systems to be much more specialized to achieve the power-performance profiles required for a
supercomputer. In the past, HPC has led the way forward, defining the bleeding edge of technology.
HPC can do this again with open hardware, as it has done in software with adopting Linux and open
source in general. This is not only a technology imperative, but one born out of current geopolitics.
Digital Technology (the generation and processing of data) is the basis for global commerce, scientific
discovery, and ubiquitous in modern life. Thus, creation of digital technology in the form of processors,
accelerators and the related digital infrastructure guarantees access to these building blocks of the
digital economy regardless of the geopolitical environment. Given this technology and geopolitical
backdrop, we describe how Europe can exploit its resources targeting research and development for
technological independence.
In this today’s technology environment, some of the rules have changed. This has produced a shift
from abundant transistors to efficient use of transistors. Thus, to truly meet the power and
performance requirements, we must specialize the hardware. At the same time, the software stack is
evolving, becoming more abstract, enabling higher programmer productivity, but sacrificing hardware
efficiency. Thus, application owners will need to co-design the full stack, all layers of hardware and
software, in order to meet their performance and power (e.g., FLOPs/W) targets. This level of
integration is not possible in a closed or even partially open ecosystem. The platform must be open to
enable this tight integration. We see this openness today in the Linux OS, toolchain, runtimes,
frameworks, and libraries, up to the application layer. This enables rapid development and extension
of software systems. However, an open hardware infrastructure was lacking, making specialization
nearly impossible, especially in a research context. Openness is required to tailor your hardware
platform to the applications, thereby achieving the desired performance in the power constrained
environment. There have been a couple of open source hardware platforms in the past, but Moore’s
Law inhibited their adoption for many reasons: general purpose processor improvements, time to
market, cost, software development, etc. Furthermore, unlike Linux, previous open source hardware
was entangled in the companies that created them. Mirroring the same model as Linux, RISC-V has
followed a similar development path and has enjoyed significant industrial and academic adoption.
Like Linux before it, the RISC-V ecosystem is in the nascent period where it can become the de facto
open hardware platform of the future. The RISC-V ecosystem has the same opportunity in hardware
that Linux created as a foundation for open source software. This enables the co-design of the RISC-V
hardware and the entire software stack, creating a better overall solution than the closed hardware
approach that is done today. RISC-V enables everyone to build what they want and need vs. buy
2022 27th IEEE European Test Symposium (ETS)
- Keynote Address-
978-1-6654-6706-3/22/$31.00 ©2022 IEEE
something that partially meets their requirements. As European HPC recognized in the past with Linux,
Europe has the opportunity to lead the charge, creating a full stack solution for everything from
supercomputers to IoT devices, all based on an open ISA, providing interoperability and a freedom to
create, build, and deploy superior technology based on European IP.
In this talk, first, we will provide background on HPC computing and the research we have conducted
to shape the current state of the art in HPC. Using RISC-V as an instrument, we provide a vision for
the future and a collection of current research and innovation projects, infrastructure, and the
community that are building the foundation for the future. This is a new opportunity for Europe to
lead the way to an HPC Future that is Wide Open! |
