UNIT-I

Computing Paradigms
High-Performance Computing
• In high-performance computing systems, a pool of processors (processor machines or
central processing units [CPUs]) connected (networked) with other resources like memory,
storage, and input and output devices, and the deployed software is enabled to run in the
entire system of connected components
• The processor machines can be of homogeneous or heterogeneous type
• examples of HPC include a small cluster of desktop computers or personal computers (PCs)
to the fastest supercomputers
• Applicable in use or solve scientific problems like protein folding in molecular biology and
studies on developing models and applications based on nuclear fusion
Architecture

Characteristics
• Performance. Delivers up to 1 million random read IOPS and 13GB/sec sustained (maximum
burst) write bandwidth per scalable building block. Optimized for both flash and spinning
media, the NetApp HPC solution includes built-in technology that monitors workloads and
automatically adjusts configurations to maximize performance.
• Reliability. Fault-tolerant design delivers greater than 99.9999% availability, proven by more
than 1 million systems deployed. Built-in Data Assurance features help make sure that data
is accurate with no drops, corruption, or missed bits.
• Easy to deploy and manage. Modular design, on-the-fly (“cut and paste”) replication of
storage blocks, proactive monitoring, and automation scripts all add up to easy, fast and
flexible management.
 • Scalability. A granular, building-block approach to growth that enables seamless scalability
from terabytes to petabytes by adding capacity in any increment—one or multiple drives at
a time.
• Lower TCO. Price/performance-optimized building blocks and the industry’s best density per
delivers low power, cooling, and support costs, and 4-times lower failure rates than
commodity HDD and SSD devices.
Applications
• HPC solutions are used for a variety of purposes across multiple industries. Examples
include:
• Research labs. HPC is used to help scientists find sources of renewable energy, understand
the evolution of our universe, predict and track storms, and create new materials.
• Media and entertainment. HPC is used to edit feature films, render mind-blowing special
effects, and stream live events around the world.
• Oil and gas. HPC is used to more accurately identify where to drill for new wells and to help
boost production from existing wells.
• Artificial intelligence and machine learning. HPC is used to detect credit card fraud, provide
self-guided technical support, teach self-driving vehicles, and improve cancer screening
techniques.
• Financial services. HPC is used to track real-time stock trends and automate trading.
• HPC is used to design new products, simulate test scenarios, and make sure that parts are
kept in stock so that production lines aren’t held up.
• HPC is used to help develop cures for diseases like diabetes and cancer and to enable faster,
more accurate patient diagnosis.
Parallel Computing
• Parallel computing is also one of the facets of HPC. Here, a set of processors work
cooperatively to solve a computational problem.
• These processor machines or CPUs are mostly of homogeneous type. Therefore, this
definition is the same as that of HPC and is broad enough to include supercomputers that
have hundreds or thousands of processors interconnected with other resources.

• In serial or sequential computers, the following apply:

– • It runs on a single computer/processor machine having a single CPU.
– • A problem is broken down into a discrete series of instructions.
– • Instructions are executed one after another.
• In parallel computing, since there is simultaneous use of multiple processor machines, the
following apply:
– • It is run using multiple processors (multiple CPUs).
– • A problem is broken down into discrete parts that can be solved concurrently.
– • Each part is further broken down into a series of instructions.
– nstructions from each part are executed simultaneously on different processors.
– • An overall control/coordination mechanism is employed

Distributed Computing
• Distributed computing is consists of multiple computers or processor machines connected
through a network, which can be homogeneous or heterogeneous, but run as a single
system.
 • The connectivity can be such that the CPUs in a distributed system can be physically close
together and connected by a local network, or they can be geographically distant and
connected by a wide area network.
• The heterogeneity in a distributed system supports any number of possible configurations in
the processor machines, such as mainframes, PCs, workstations, and minicomputers.
• The goal of distributed computing is to make such a network work as a single computer.
• Distributed computing systems are advantageous over centralized systems, because there is
a support for the following characteristic features:
• 1. Scalability: It is the ability of the system to be easily expanded by adding more
machines as needed, and vice versa, without affecting the existing setup.
• 2. Redundancy or replication: several machines can provide the same services, so
that even if one is unavailable (or failed), work does not stop because other similar
computing supports will be available

Cluster Computing
• A cluster computing system consists of a set of the same or similar type of processor
machines connected using a dedicated network infrastructure.
• All processor machines share resources such as a common home directory and have a
software such as a message passing interface (MPI) implementation installed to allow
programs to be run across all nodes simultaneously.
 • This is also a kind of HPC category. The individual computers in a cluster can be referred to
as nodes. The reason to realize a cluster as HPC is due to the fact that the individual nodes
can work together to solve a problem larger than any computer can easily solve. And, the
nodes need to communicate with one another in order to work cooperatively and
meaningfully together to solve the problem in hand.
• If we have processor machines of heterogeneous types in a cluster, this kind of clusters
become a subtype

Grid Computing
• The computing resources in most of the organizations are underutilized but are necessary
for certain operations.
• The idea of grid computing is to make use of such nonutilized computing power by the
needy organizations, and thereby the return on investment (ROI) on computing investments
can be increased.
• Thus, grid computing is a network of computing or processor machines managed with a kind
of software such as middleware, in order to access and use the resources remotely.
• The managing activity of grid resources through the middleware is called grid services.
• Grid services provide access control, security, access to data including digital libraries and
databases, and access to large-scale interactive and long-term storage facilities.
• Grid computing is more popular due to the following reasons:
• • Its ability to make use of unused computing power, and thus, it is a cost-effective solution
(reducing investments, only recurring costs)
• • As a way to solve problems in line with any HPC-based application
 • • Enables heterogeneous resources of computers to work cooperatively and collaboratively
to solve a scientific problem

Cloud Computing
• The computing trend moved toward cloud from the concept of grid computing, particularly
when large computing resources are required to solve a single problem, using the ideas of
computing power as a utility and other allied concepts.
• The potential difference between grid and cloud is that grid computing supports leveraging
several computers in parallel to solve a particular application, while cloud computing
supports leveraging multiple resources, including computing resources, to deliver a unified
service to the end user.
• In cloud computing, the IT and business resources, such as servers, storage, network,
applications, and processes, can be dynamically provisioned to the user needs and workload.
• In addition, while a cloud can provision and support a grid, a cloud can also support nongrid
environments, such as a three-tier web architecture running on traditional or Web 2.0
applications.
Bio Computing
• Biocomputing systems use the concepts of biologically derived or simulated molecules (or
models) that perform computational processes in order to solve a problem.
• The biologically derived models aid in structuring the computer programs that become part
of the application.
• Biocomputing provides the theoretical background and practical tools for scientists to
explore proteins and DNA.
• DNA and proteins are nature’s building blocks, but these building blocks are not exactly used
as bricks;
• The function of the final molecule rather strongly depends on the order of these blocks.
• Thus, the biocomputing scientist works on inventing the order suitable for various
applications mimicking biology.
• Biocomputing shall, therefore, lead to a better understanding of life and the molecular
causes of certain diseases.
• Biological computers, or biocomputers, represent the future of computing and biology.
Biocomputers are computers made of proteins, genes, and cells, and capable of performing
mathematical operations, IF/THEN tests, and Boolean logic gate operations.
• Scientists have also been able to create genetic biocircuits capable of performing all basic
Boolean logic gates (AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR, XOR, and XNOR), and by 2011, scientists
had developed multicellular biological computers, programmed with logic gates.
• These multicellular biocomputers are capable of communicating through chemical “wires”,
much like an electronic circuit
Mobile Computing
• In mobile computing, the processing (or computing) elements are small (i.e., handheld
devices) and the communication between various resources is taking place using wireless
media.
• Mobile communication for voice applications (e.g., cellular phone) is widely established
throughout the world and witnesses a very rapid growth in all its dimensions including the
increase in the number of subscribers of various cellular networks.
• An extension of this technology is the ability to send and receive data across various cellular
networks using small devices such as smartphones.
• There can be numerous applications based on this technology; for example, video call or
conferencing is one of the important applications that people prefer to use in place of
existing voice (only) communications on mobile phones.
• Mobile computing–based applications are becoming very important and rapidly evolving
with various technological advancements as it allows users to transmit data from remote
locations to other remote or fixed locations.
Quantum Computing
• Manufacturers of computing systems say that there is a limit for cramming more and more
transistors into smaller and smaller spaces of integrated circuits (ICs) and thereby doubling
the processing power about every 18 months.
• This problem will have to be overcome by a new quantum computing–based solution,
wherein the dependence is on quantum information, the rules that govern the subatomic
world.
• Quantum computers are millions of times faster than even our most powerful
supercomputers today.
• Since quantum computing works differently on the most fundamental level than the current
technology, and although there are working prototypes, these systems have not so far
proved to be alternatives to today’s silicon-based machines.
Optical Computing
• Optical computing system uses the photons in visible light or infrared beams, rather than
electric current, to perform digital computations.
• An electric current flows at only about 10% of the speed of light. This limits the rate at which
data can be exchanged over long distances and is one of the factors that led to the evolution
of optical fiber.
• By applying some of the advantages of visible and/or IR networks at the device and
component scale, a computer can be developed that can perform operations 10 or more
times faster than a conventional electronic computer.

• Optical components and systems benefit aerospace and defense applications with high
speed, low weight, and increased security.
• The requirement for compact, lightweight, low-power electronics exacerbated by the
growing demand for greater data throughput and bandwidth
• These driving the use of optical technologies in military and aerospace applications.
• Optical components and systems are increasingly being investigated, as well as adopted, by
aerospace and defense engineers for a wealth of land, sea, air, and space applications.
Nano Computing
• Nanocomputing refers to computing systems that are constructed from nanoscale
components.
• The silicon transistors in traditional computers may be replaced by transistors based on
carbon nanotubes.
• The successful realization of nanocomputers relates to the scale and integration of these
nanotubes or components.
• The issues of scale relate to the dimensions of the components; they are, at most, a few
nanometers in at least two dimensions.
• The issues of integration of the components are twofold:
– The manufacture of complex arbitrary patterns may be economically infeasible.
– Nanocomputers may include massive quantities of devices.

Applications
• Better imaging and diagnostic tools enabled by nanotechnology are paving the way for
earlier diagnosis.
• Nanotechnology is being studied for both the diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerosis, or
the buildup of plaque in arteries
• Research in the use of nanotechnology for regenerative medicine spans several application
areas, including bone and neural tissue engineering.
• Nanomedicine researchers are looking at ways that nanotechnology can improve vaccines,
including vaccine delivery without the use of needles
• Nanotechnology is improving the efficiency of fuel production from raw petroleum materials
through better catalysis. It is also enabling reduced fuel consumption in vehicles and power
plants through higher-efficiency combustion and decreased friction.
• Nanotechnology is also being applied to oil and gas extraction
• Researchers are investigating carbon nanotube “scrubbers” and membranes to separate
carbon dioxide from power plant exhaust.
• Nanotechnology can be incorporated into solar panels to convert sunlight to electricity more
efficiently, promising inexpensive solar power in the future
• anotechnology is already being used to develop many new kinds of batteries that are
quicker-charging, more efficient, lighter weight, have a higher power density, and hold
electrical charge longer.