Massively parallel computing: A Sandia perspective

The computing power available to scientists and engineers has increased dra matically in the past decade, due in part to progress in making massively p arallel computing practical and available. The expectation for these machin es has been great. The reality is that progress has been slower than expect ed. Nevertheless, massively parallel computing is beginning to realize its potential for enabling significant breakthroughs in science and engineering . This paper provides a perspective on the state of the field, colored by t he authors' experiences using large-scale parallel machines at Sandia Natio nal Laboratories. We address trends in hardware! system software and algori thms, and we also offer our view of the forces shaping the parallel computi ng industry. (C) 1999 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserve d.