Accelerating big data and analytics

The need for a UK-based SuperVessel project

What makes this deal particularly interesting is that the two companies named, Mellanox and NVIDIA are also involved in the SuperVessel open access cloud for OpenPOWER. This cloud-based project which is located initially in China sees IBM, Mellanox and NVIDIA working with other companies to offer access to a range of accelerators to build high performance solutions based on IBM’s Power8 processor.

Disappointingly, there is no mention of a similar project here being based either or Hartree or run out of IBM SoftLayer’s cloud data centre at Chessington. This project appears to be focused on data users and data scientists rather than the developers which SuperVessel is targeting.

However as an innovation centre it is reasonable to expect a range of technologies for developers. This would enable them to build their own applications taking advantage of FPGA’s and IBM’s
Coherent Accelerator Processor Interface (CAPI). Using CAPI an FPGA is able to appear to the POWER 8 processor as if it were part of the processor. For developers building big data systems or where data needs to be moved to memory quickly this is a significant bonus.

It would also allow developers to take advantage of the FGPA’s that Mellanox is installing on its network cards. This enables them to install applications on the network card which could be used to deliver real-time security intelligence around network traffic. It could also be used to accelerate big data projects by doing some of the initial analytics on the data before it is sent around the network increasing performance and lowering costs.

Conclusion

It is good to see IBM extending its investment with UK institutions especially where there is joint access for academic and business use. The fact that this follows on from a previous large investment will please the STFC and the UK Government.

Unfortunately, the decision not to target application developers in order to help them develop new types of applications is disappointing. Let’s hope IBM reconsiders this and that the next announcement will be IBM, STFC and OpenPOWER Foundation jointly developing a version of the SuperVessel cloud which will really help drive innovation.