Data-Intensive Scalable Computing Researchers Garner NSF Support

In August, CNS Research Scientist George Porter and CSE Professor Amin Vahdat were awarded a NSF grant for their proposal to study highly efficient, pipeline-oriented data-intensive scalable computing (DISC). An increasing number of common place applications such as search engines, social networking sites, and biological and scientific programs are making use of DISC to solve computing problems. However, explains Dr. Porter, “the potential benefits of deploying applications at this scale will only be possible if they can be deployed in a sustainable, efficient manner.” This project proposes to find a way to increase per-node efficiency of DISC computing. These reductions would result in the need for fewer machines and less energy usage, thereby reducing the total capital and operational costs of large installations. The possible benefit to commercial, academic, and non-profit enterprises would be considerable. In addition to these already remarkable advantages, the work would also make computing more resilient to common disk failures at significantly less cost and complexity when compared to current solutions.