GOVERNMENT

The conference program for the 2009 International Supercomputing Conference (ISC’09)is now finalized, and according to ISC’09 General Chair Prof. Hans Meuer, this year's conference program is set to be the most illustrious in the 24-year history of the conference. This year’s conference will be held June 23-24 in Hamburg.

The four-day high performance computing conference and trade show at the Congress Center Hamburg provides a unique international platform to gain insights, network and do business, all under one roof. With over 1,500 attendees and more than 120 exhibitors from over 45 countries expected to attend, ISC’09 is shaping up to be the most extensive and dynamic since the conference began as a meeting in Mannheim in 1986.

ISC, which marks its 24^th anniversary in 2009, has a well-established reputation for presenting well-founded, precise and up-to-date information in an environment that encourages informal conversations and sharing of ideas. ISC is also the largest high performance computing exhibition in Europe. All conference proceedings are conducted in English.

In addition to world-renowned keynote speakers, ISC’09 will feature four in-depth sessions examining some of the most exciting – and challenging – areas in high performance computing today. Here is a quick look at each of the sessions:

• HPC & Cloud Computing – Synergy or Competition?, featuring speakers from Google, Yahoo, Amazon, Microsoft and others

• Climate Modeling & HPC: Challenges in a Changing World, featuring speakers from leading climate research institutions, including ECMWF, NCAR, MPI, GFDL and COLA.

• Supercomputing Challenges for Research in Aeronautics, featuring speakers from EADS, Airbus, Boeing, DLR and Turbomeca.

• Scientific Afternoon, with parallel sessions on burning scientific topics, chosen by a panel of judges from submissions by researchers around the world.

“Every year, as we put together the conference program, I say this will be the best ever, but this year the program is truly illustrious,” said Conference Chair Prof. Hans Werner Meuer of the University of Mannheim. “For 2009, we have four days of presentations, an impressive lineup of speakers and our largest exhibition ever. At the same time, we have also updated our pricing structure to ensure that everyone who wants to attend can afford this extremely valuable investment.”

The ISC’09 program also includes four keynote speakers:

• Andreas von Bechtolsheim of Arista Networks and the legendary co-founder of Sun Microsystems, will discuss The Evolution of Interconnects for High Performance Computing during the opening session keynote address on Tuesday, June 23.

• Prof. Dr. Thomas Sterling, the Arnaud & Edwards Professor of Computer Science at Louisiana State University, will talk aboutHPC Achievement & Impact – 2009 on Wednesday, June 24.

• Prof. Dr. Gunter Dueck, IBM Distinguished Engineer, will give the Thursday, June 25 keynote talk on Lean Brain Management – More Success and Efficiency by Saving Intelligence

• Prof. Dr. Edgar Körner, President of the Honda Research Institute Europe, will discuss The Brain-like Vision in the keynote session on Friday, June 26.

An overview of the ISC’09 conference program can be found at http://www.supercomp.de/isc09/Program/Overview.

Online registration starts on March 2

Advance registration for ISC’09 begins Monday, March 2, and in addition to reduced rates, a number of one-day options for both the program and exhibition are being offered for the first time. As an added incentive for U.S. attendees, the U.S. dollar is about 25 percent stronger against the euro than last year. For complete details on registration categories and rates, go to: http://www.supercomp.de/isc09/Registration-Travel/Attendance-Fees