TFCC Newsletter Volume 2, Number 2, November, 2000

Announcements about TFCC Activities and Achievements

• Annual Report of the Task Force on Cluster Computing (TFCC) for year 2000 is available at http://www.ieeetfcc.org/tab-report2000/tfcc2000.pdf

• Official TFCC Membership
  We strongly urge everyone interested in Cluster Computing to register as a Task Force on Cluster Computing (TFCC) member with the IEEE Computer Society. Membership is free and you do not have to be an IEEE Computer Society member. There are two easy ways to sign up:
  • Download form from http://www.dgs.monash.edu.au/~rajkumar/tfcc/tfcc-mem-form.pdf. Then print, fill it out, and fax to: +1-202-728-9614.
  • OR register online at IEEE Computer Society web page at: http://computer.org/tcsignup/
  When you are an official member, we can serve you better. And the IEEE Computer Society knows that the Task Force is strong and healthy. Therefore, we strongly encourage you to "vote with your feet" and register!

• TFCC has an on-line discussion group of over 450 individuals interested in cluster computing. Click to see how to subscribe. Contributions sent to the list are automatically archived. Anyone can browse the past discussion messages at the TFCC-L discussion Archive.

• TFCC has new registered Internet Domain Name http://www.ieeetfcc.org/

• TFCC has released its Whitepaper on Cluster Computing
  http://www.dcs.port.ac.uk/~mab/tfcc/WhitePaper/

• The TFCC report on "Cluster Computing R&D in Australia" by M. Baker, R. Buyya, K. Hawick, H. James, and H. Jin, published as part of the Asian Technology Information Program (ATIP), Japan/USA, April, 2000 is now public and freely available. The report emerged as an outcome of the first annual cluster computing meeting of the IEEE Task Force on Cluster Computing held in Melbourne, Australia, Dec. 1999.
  URL: http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~rajkumar/papers/ClusterComputingAU.pdf

• The IEEE Computer Society's Task Force on Cluster Computing (TFCC) initiated a project that lists the World's TOP Clusters much like the TOP500 Supercomputers' web page. We request you submit data on your cluster to http://www.topclusters.org. Please visit to see the latest rankings.

• "Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing" research papers repository at on-line Computing Research Repository (CoRR). More information available at http://www.ieeetfcc.org/ClusterArchive.html. To browse, search, subscribe or submit, please click on CoRR's Website/URL: http://arXiv.org/archive/cs/intro.html. CoRR is available to all members of the community free of charge.

• BOF Session on high speed interconnects organized at SC2000, Dallas Texas by TFCC member Markus Fischer. Tuesday November 7, 2000 at 5:30 PM in Room D263-265. Updates and slides at http://www.markus-fischer.de

• BOF Session on Cluster Computing and the IEEE Task Force on Cluster Computing organized at SC2000, Dallas, Texas by TFCC member Tim Mattson. Wednesday November 8, 2000 at 5:30 - 7:00 PM in room D 271-273.

• Our Second IEEE International Conference on Cluster Computing (CLUSTER 2000) is at Technische Universität Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany, November 28 - December 2, 2000
  URL: http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/informatik/RA/cluster2000/index.htm

• Our Third IEEE International Conference on Cluster Computing (CLUSTER 2001) will be at Sutton Place Hotel, Newport Beach, California, USA, October 8-11, 2001
  URL: http://andy.usc.edu/cluster2001/

• The TFCC sponsored IEEE International Symposium on Cluster Computing and the Grid (CCGrid2001) will be 16-18 May 2001 in Brisbane, Australia
  URL: http://www.ccgrid2001.qut.edu.au

• Two members of TFCC Dan Hyde and Barry Wilkinson have organized the first International Workshop on Cluster Computing Education as part of IEEE International Symposium on Cluster Computing and the Grid (CCGrid2001) May 16-18, 2001 Brisbane, Australia
  URL: http://www.cs.uncc.edu/~abw/CLUSTER-EDU_2001/

Conference Announcements

• High Performance Computing 2001 (HPC) Special Track on "High Performance Simulation Environments" part of 2001 Advanced Simulation Technology Conference (ASTC2001) April 22th-26th, 2001 Renaissance Madison Hotel, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.
  URL: http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~davida/conferences/SimEnv.html

• LinuxWorld Conference & Expo 2001 Jauary 30 - February 2, 2001, Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York, NY, USA
  URL: http://www.linuxworldexpo.com

• Second IEEE International Conference on Cluster Computing (CLUSTER 2000) Technische Universität Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany, November 28 - December 2, 2000
  URL: http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/informatik/RA/cluster2000/index.htm

• Third IEEE International Conference on Cluster Computing (CLUSTER2001) Sutton Place Hotel, Newport Beach, California, USA, Oct. 8-11, 2001
  URL: http://andy.usc.edu/cluster2001/

• Twelfth IASTED International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing and Systems (PDCS 2000) Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, November 6-9, 2000
  URL: http://www.iasted.com/conferences/2000/lasvegas/pdcscfp.htm

• International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium (IPDPS 2001) (Formerly IPPS & SPDP) April 23-27, 2001, San Francisco, California, USA.
  URL: http://www.ipdps.org/

• IEEE International Symposium on Cluster Computing and the Grid (CCGrid2001) 16-18 May 2001 in Brisbane, Australia
  URL: http://www.ccgrid2001.qut.edu.au

• International Symposium on High Performance Computing (ISHPC2K), Yoyogi, Tokyo, JAPAN, October 16-18, 2000.
  URL: http://alice.ics.nara-wu.ac.jp/ishpc2k

• Optical Networking and Communications Conference, OptiComm 2000 October 22-26, 2000 Richardson, Texas, USA
  URL: http://www.opticomm.or

• 7th International Conference on High Performance Computing, HiPC 2000 December 17-20, 2000 Bangalore, India
  URL: http://www.hipc.org

• 4th International Conference on Algorithms and Architectures for Parallel Processing; Hong Kong, 11-13 Dec. 2000
  URL: http://www.cs.cityu.edu.hk/~ica3pp2k/

• Joint Intl. Conference on Measurement & Modeling of Computer Systems - SIGMETRICS 2001 / Performance 2001 June 17-20th, 2001 Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
  URL: http://www.cs.umd.edu/conference/sigmetrics2001

• 28th Annual International Symposium on Computer Architecture (ISCA 2001) Goteborg, Sweden June 30-July 4, 2001
  URL: http://www.ee.princeton.edu/~isca2001/

• High Performance Computing and Networking Europe 2001 (HPCN Europe 2001) Amsterdam, Netherlands, June 25-27, 2001 (NOTE DATE CHANGE!)
  URL: http://www.wins.uva.nl/events/HPCN2001/

• Thirteenth Annual ACM Symposium on Parallel Algorithms and Architectures (SPAA) Crete Island, Greece, July 4-6, 2001
  URL: http://www.spaa-conference.org

• Second International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing, Applications, and Techniques (PDCAT 2001) National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, July 9-11, 2001
  For more information please contact the program chair Yen-Chun Lin at yclin@et.ntust.edu.tw

• 7th International Symposium on High-Performance Computer Architecture Monterrey, Mexico, January 20-24, 2001
  URL: http://www.research.ibm.com/hpca7

• 2001 International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Processing Techniques and Applications (PDPTA2001), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; June 25-28, 2001
  URL: http://www.ashland.edu/~iajwa/conferences/pdpta/

• 2001 International Conference on Computational Science San Francisco, California, USA, May 28 - 30, 2001
  URL: http://www.ucalgary.ca/iccs

• International Symposium on Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems (ASPLOS-IX), Royal Sonesta Hotel, Cambridge, MA, USA November 12-15, 2000.
  URL: http://foothill.lcs.mit.edu/asplos-ix

• The World Internet & Electronic Cities Conference May 1-3, 2001 in Kish Island Iran.
  URL: http://members.tripod.com/~h_s_shahhoseini/wiecc2001

• 2nd Cluster Computing in the Sciences Conference, Center for High Performance Computing, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, February 8-9, 2001.
  URL: http://www.chpc.utah.edu/cc/

Call for Papers - Conferences

• 6th International Workshop on High-Level Parallel Programming Models and Supportive Environments (HIPS 2001) (in conjunction with IPDPS 2001) April 23, 2001, San Francisco, California, USA.
  URL: http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de/~mueller/hips01/
  Submission deadline: 13 November 2000

• IEEE International Symposium on Cluster Computing and the Grid (CCGrid2001) 16-18 May 2001 in Brisbane, Australia
  URL: http://www.ccgrid2001.qut.edu.au
  Papers Due: 4 November 2000
  

• Global Computing on Personal Devices session organized at the IEEE International Symposium on Cluster Computing and the Grid (CCGrid2001) Brisbane, Australia, May 16-18, 2001
  URL: http://www.ics.forth.gr/~lalis/gcpd.html
  Submission deadline: 27 November 2000
  

• First International Workshop on Internet Computing and E-Commerce (ICEC'01) in conjunction with IPDPS'01, April 27, 2000, San Francisco, California, USA
  URL: http://andy.usc.edu/icec2001/
  Submission deadline: 23 October 2000
  

• High Performance Computing and Networking Europe 2001 (HPCN Europe 2001) Amsterdam, Netherlands, June 25-27, 2001 (NOTE Date Change!)
  URL: http://www.wins.uva.nl/events/HPCN2001/
  Submission deadline: 2 January 2001
  

• Thirteenth Annual ACM Symposium on Parallel Algorithms and Architectures (SPAA) Crete Island, Greece, July 4-6, 2001
  URL: http://www.spaa-conference.org
  Submission deadline: 27 January 2001
  

• Workshop in Massively Parallel Processing (WMPP) in conjunction with International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium (IPDPS 2001) San Francisco, California, USA, April 23-27, 2001
  URL: http://www.mcs.kent.edu/~parallel/workshops/ipdps01-mpp/
  Submission deadline: 1 November 2000
  

• Ninth International Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Real-Time Systems (WPDRTS 2001) in conjunction with the International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium, IPDPS 2001, San Francisco, California, USA, April 23-24, 2001
  URL: http://csce.uark.edu/~aapon/wpdrts2001/
  Submission deadline: 20 November 2000
  

• 2001 International Workshop on Distributed Shared Memory on Clusters (DSM 2001) organized as part of IEEE International Symposium on Cluster Computing and the Grid (CCGrid'2001), May 16 - 18, 2001, Brisbane, Australia
  URL: http://resam.univ-lyon1.fr/~llefevre/dsm2001/index.html
  Submission deadline: 27 November 2000
  

• Second International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing, Applications, and Techniques (PDCAT 2001) National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, July 9-11, 2001
  For more information please contact the program chair Yen-Chun Lin at yclin@et.ntust.edu.tw
  Submission deadline: 1 January 2001
  

• 2001 International Conference on Parallel and Distributed Processing Techniques and Applications (PDPTA2001), Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; June 25-28, 2001
  URL: http://www.ashland.edu/~iajwa/conferences/pdpta/
  Submission deadline: 1 March 2001
  

• 2001 International Conference on Computational Science San Francisco, California, USA, May 28 - 30, 2001
  URL: http://www.ucalgary.ca/iccs
  Submission deadline: 8 December 2000
  

• Third IEEE International Conference on Cluster Computing (CLUSTER2001) Sutton Place Hotel, Newport Beach, California, USA Oct. 8-11, 2001
  URL: http://andy.usc.edu/cluster2001/
  Submission deadline: 12 March 2001
  

• Cluster Computing-Internals and Usage (CCIU-2001) session at 2001 International Conference on Computational Science (ICCS 2001) May 28 - 30, San Francisco, California, USA, May 28 - 30, 2001
  URL: http://www.ac.upc.es/homes/toni/CCIU/index.html
  Submission deadline: 19 January 2001

• 2nd Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Scientific and Engineering Computing with Applications (PDSECA-01) in conjunction with 15th International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium (IPDPS-2001) San Francisco, California, USA April 23-27, 2001
  URL: http://www.stfx.ca/people/lyang/activities/ipdps01-pdseca.html
  Submission deadline: 15 November 2000

• Multimedia on Clusters of Workstations (MCW-2001) held at 5th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, Orlando, Florida, USA, July 22-25, 2001
  URL: http://arcos.inf.uc3m.es/~mcw2001
  Submission deadline: 15 January 2001

Call for Papers - Journals

• Special issue on Monitoring Systems and Tool Interoperability in Parallel and Distributed Computing Practices (PDCP)
  URL: http://orca.st.usm.edu/pdcp/cfp/monitoring.html
  Deadline for submissions is 5 January 2001
  

Journal Announcements

• The IEEE Computer Society has started a new on-line magazine "Distributed Systems-Online". There is a Grid and Cluster Computing section in the magazine. We encourage you to read as well as contribute to this new electronic service.
  URL: http://computer.org/dsonline/

Special Issues on Cluster Computing in Journals

• Parallel and Distributed Real-Time Systems in Parallel and Distributed Computing Practices Journal (PDCP) VOLUME 2 NUMBER 1, March 1999. Edited by Jan Van Katwijk and Janusz Zalewski
  URL: http://orca.st.usm.edu/pdcp

• Cluster Computing in Parallel and Distributed Computing Practices Journal (PDCP) VOLUME 2 NUMBER 2, June 1999. Edited by Rajkumar Buyya and Clemens Szyperski
  URL: http://orca.st.usm.edu/pdcp

Workshops/Sessions

• International Workshop on Grid Computing part of 7th International Conference on High Performance Computing (HiPC'2000) December 17-20, 2000, Bangalore, India
  URL: http://www.dgs.monash.edu.au/~rajkumar/Grid2000/

• 6th International Workshop on High-Level Parallel Programming Models and Supportive Environments (HIPS 2001) (in conjunction with IPDPS 2001) April 23, 2001, San Francisco, California, USA.
  URL: http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de/~mueller/hips01/

• 2001 International Workshop on Cluster Infrastructure for Web Server and E-Commerce (CISC2001) organized as part of IEEE International Symposium on Cluster Computing and the Grid (CCGrid'2001) May 16 - 18, 2001, Brisbane, Australia
  URL: http://ceng.usc.edu/~hjin/cisca2001/

• 2nd Workshop on Distributed Computing (WDC 2000) Dec 28-30, 2000 Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering, Jadavpur University, Calcutta 700 032, India
  Contact Chandan Mazumdar, Department of Computer Sci. & Engg., Jadavpur University, chandanm@vsnl.com

• Sixth International Workshop on High-Level Parallel Programming Models and Supportive Environments (HIPS'01) as part of IPDPS2001, San Francisco, California, USA, April 23, 2001
  URL: http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de/~mueller/hips01

• 2001 International Workshop on Cluster Computing Education as part of IEEE International Symposium on Cluster Computing and the Grid (CCGrid2001) May 16-18, 2001 Brisbane, Australia
  URL: http://www.cs.uncc.edu/~abw/CLUSTER-EDU_2001/

• 2001 International Workshop on Parallel I/O on Clusters (PIC 2001) part of IEEE International Symposium on Cluster Computing and the Grid (CCGrid2001) Brisbane, Australia, May 16-18, 2001
  URL: http://www.mcs.anl.gov/~thakur/pic2001

• Global Computing on Personal Devices session organized at the IEEE International Symposium on Cluster Computing and the Grid (CCGrid2001) Brisbane, Australia, May 16-18, 2001
  URL: http://www.ics.forth.gr/~lalis/gcpd.html

• First International Workshop on Internet Computing and E-Commerce (ICEC'01) in conjunction with IPDPS'01, April 27, 2001, San Francisco, California, USA
  URL: http://andy.usc.edu/icec2001/
  

• 15th Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Simulation (PADS 2001) May 15-18, 2001, Lake Arrowhead, California, USA
  URL: http://www.ececs.uc.edu/~paw/pads2001

• Data Models and Databases on Clusters and the Grid session at IEEE International Symposium on Cluster Computing and the Grid 16 - 18 May 2001, Brisbane, Australia
  URL: http://cern.ch/hst/ccgrid/

• 8th Reconfigurable Architectures Workshop (RAW 2001) in conjunction with International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium (IPDPS 2001) San Francisco, California USA, April 23, 2001
  URL: http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~raw/

• Wild and Crazy Ideas session at International Symposium on Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems (ASPLOS-IX), Royal Sonesta Hotel, Cambridge, MA, USA November 14, 2000.
  URL: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~kubitron/asplos00/

• Workshop in Massively Parallel Processing (WMPP) in conjunction with International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium (IPDPS 2001) San Francisco, California, USA, April 23-27, 2001
  URL: http://www.mcs.kent.edu/~parallel/workshops/ipdps01-mpp/

• Ninth International Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Real-Time Systems (WPDRTS 2001) in conjunction with the International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium, IPDPS 2001, San Francisco, California, USA, April 23-24, 2001
  URL: http://csce.uark.edu/~aapon/wpdrts2001/

• 2001 International Workshop on Distributed Shared Memory on Clusters (DSM 2001) organized as part of IEEE International Symposium on Cluster Computing and the Grid (CCGrid'2001), May 16 - 18, 2001, Brisbane, Australia
  URL: http://resam.univ-lyon1.fr/~llefevre/dsm2001/index.html

• Cluster Computing: Internals and Usage sesssion at 2001 International Conference on Computational Science, 28-30 May 2001 in San Francisco, California, USA
  URL: http://www.ac.upc.es/homes/toni/CCIU/index.html

• 2nd Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Scientific and Engineering Computing with Applications (PDSECA-01) in conjunction with 15th International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium (IPDPS-2001) San Francisco, California, USA April 23-27, 2001
  URL: http://www.stfx.ca/people/lyang/activities/ipdps01-pdseca.html
  

• Multimedia on Clusters of Workstations (MCW-2001) held at 5th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, Orlando, Florida, USA, July 22-25, 2001
  URL: http://arcos.inf.uc3m.es/~mcw2001
  

Tutorials

• Current and Emerging Trends in Cluster Computing tutorial by Mark Baker, University of Portsmouth; Rajkumar Buyya, Monash University; and Jack Dongarra, University of Tennessee at SC 2000, Dallas, Texas, November 6, 2000
  URL: http://www.sc2000.org/tutorial/index.htm#M9

New Web Sites on Cluster Computing

• "The Application of PDC/Clusters (Parallel and Distributed Computing) and Technique in E-Commerce" - slides by Rajkumar Buyya on panel organised by Francis Lau from Hong Kong University at PDCAT2000 conference held in Hong Kong, May 2000
  URL: http://www.dgs.monash.edu.au/~rajkumar/talks/PDCAppEcommerce/

• Seamless, Scalable Computing from Desktops to Global Computational Power Grids: Hype or Reality? slides of talk by Rajkumar Buyya at PDCAT2000 conference held in Hong Kong, May 2000
  URL: http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~rajkumar/talks/PDCATKeynote/

• The Design of PARAS Microkernel Operating System on-line book by Rajkumar Buyya
  URL: http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~rajkumar/microkernel/

• "Cluster Performance: SMP versus Uniprocessor Nodes" slides of poster session at SC99 by Jenwei Hsieh, Tau Leng of Dell Computer Corporation, Austin, TX; and John Gustafson, Don Heller, and Rajat Todi, Ames Laboratory. They compare Linux and NT performance on SMP cluster using MPI-Pro.
  URL: http://www.scl.ameslab.gov/scl/Personnel/todi/SC99/building_blocks.ppte_files/v3_document.htm

• ASPLOS Wild and Crazy Idea Session '98 complete submissions on-line.
  URL: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~kubitron/asplos98

• Cluster Computing Info Centre
  URL: http://www.buyya.com/cluster

• Grid Computing Info Centre
  URL: http://www.gridcomputing.com

Short Article - Cluster Computing in the Undergraduate Curriculum
By Dan Hyde, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, USA

Traditionally this effort is done every ten years. The previous effort resulted in the report "IEEE/ACM Computing Curricula 1991." The Joint Task Force is heavily involved in developing a new report entitled "IEEE/ACM Computing Curricula 2001" to be published next year.

TFCC members Barry Wilkinson and Dan Hyde have been asked to write and submit as part of the report a course description for an upper-level undergraduate course in Cluster Computing.

Barry and Dan invite you to forward your ideas and suggestions on such a course. We have our own ideas but would like to solicit ideas and opinions from the much wider audience. If you know of a paper on a Cluster Computing Course that we should read, send us the URL or the reference.

If you are interested in contributing, look at the web page http://computer.org/education/cc2001/report/curriculum.html and especially at the Net-Centric Computing (NC) and Computational Science (CN) links.

This is a great opportunity to influence the undergraduate curricula in the USA and around the world for the next decade. Please send your suggestions to Dan Hyde by December 10th.