Novo-G#: Large-scale reconfigurable computing with direct and programmable interconnects

Abstract

While High-Performance Computing is ever more pervasive and effective, computing capability is currently only a small fraction of what is needed. Three fundamental issues limiting performance are computational efficiency, power density, and communication latency. All of these issues are being addressed through increased heterogeneity, but the last in particular by integrating communication into the accelerator. This integration enables direct and programmable communication among compute components. Novo-G# is a large-scale FPGA-centric cluster being built to investigate and develop architectures, system and tool infrastructure, and applications for this model. In this report we discuss the motivation behind and particular objectives of Novo-G#, the work completed so far, the products of that work, and their potential impact. We end with a description of and an invitation to join the Novo-G# Forum, the project users group.