Application performance on the Blue Gene architecture

Blue Gene was designed as a special purpose system, offering unprecedented computing performance coupled with very low power consumption and cost for a limited set of applications. Adoption has however become more widespread and Blue Gene is now being used in a relatively diverse range of scientific disciplines. Exploring the range and type of application that can make effective use of these systems, and the relevant architectural features influencing performance, is therefore highly topical.This tutorial will focus on the performance of a series of applications and consider the techniques required to achieve optimal performance and scaling on the Blue Gene architecture. We will discuss the factors and bottlenecks that influence performance and cover techniques for compiler, memory and communication optimization.Attendees will have the opportunity to gain hands on experience through a series of practical sessions on The University of Edinburgh's Blue Gene system.