Oh, $#*@! Exascale! The Effect of Emerging Architectures on Scientific Discovery

Abstract

The predictions for exascale computing are dire. Although we have benefited from a consistent supercomputer architecture design, even across manufacturers, for well over a decade, recent trends indicate that future high-performance computers will have different hardware structure and programming models to which software must adapt. This paper provides an informal discussion on the ways in which changes in high-performance computing architecture will profoundly affect the scalability of our current generation of scientific visualization and analysis codes and how we must adapt our applications, workflows, and attitudes to continue our success at exascale computing.