HPC Experts From Three Continents to Keynote at ISC07

Acclaimed high performance computing experts who work in industry and academia and represent organizations in Europe, Asia and the United States will present the three keynote addresses at the 2007 International Supercomputing Conference (ISC '07). The conference, Europe’s premier HPC event, will be held June 26 – 29 under the theme “Exploring the Frontiers of Supercomputing.” The conference, which is conducted in English, includes three days of technical sessions, pre-conference sessions aimed at industry and scientific researchers, poster and birds-of-a-feather sessions, and after-hours networking opportunities. “The keynote addresses at ISC ’07 will give attendees the chance to hear about advances in parallel computing, chip design, multiprocessor architectures, and low-latency high bandwidth interconnects from the experts who are making these innovations happen,” said Conference Chair Prof. Hans Werner Meuer of the University of Mannheim. “We are excited about having such a strong lineup of speakers. Combined with our Automotive Session, Scientific Day presentations, and other presentations and networking activities, ISC’07 will offer a one-of-a-kind conference experience.” Here is an overview of the conference’s keynote speakers:
  • Dr. Burton J. Smith, Microsoft Technical Fellow and a world-renowned expert in high performance computer architectures and programming languages for parallel computers, will present the opening keynote, “Reinventing Computing,” on Wednesday, June 27. Before joining Microsoft, Smith spent many years at Cray Inc. (formerly Tera Computer Company) as chief scientist, a member of the board of directors from its inception in 1988 to December 2005, and chairman from 1988 to 1999. Smith’s talk will look at how the ubiquitous deployment of parallel processors in desktops, laptops, and smartphones presents the industry with a new challenge: developing general-purpose parallel computing hardware and software that is easier to use, more scalable and able to serve more general purposes.
  • Dr. Tsugio Makimoto, a corporate advisor with Sony Corporation in charge of semiconductor technology until 2005 and now head of the consulting firm TechnoVision, will present the keynote on Thursday, June 28. Makimoto has been honored numerous times for his vision, leadership and outstanding contributions to the semiconductor industry. His presentation, “Impact of Chip Innovations Driving Computing Power,” will examine the progress expected in chip technology over the next decade and how these innovations will affect everything from HPC to gaming to robotics.
  • Prof. Dr. José Duato of Technical University of Valencia, Spain, will present the final keynote on Friday, June 29. Duato is known for his research in interconnection networks and multiprocessor architectures. His talk, “High Performance Switch and Network Architecture,” will analyze the impact of commodity components in the design of high-performance computing clusters and will show how the implementation of low-latency, high-bandwidth interconnects will enable a complete redesign of system architectures.

More information on the ISC’07 conference program is available at http://www.isc07.org/program. Online advance registration for the conference is open through May 26. To register, please see http://www.isc07.org/registration.