Advanced Computing, Mathematics and Data
Research Highlights
August 2009
Global Arrays Toolkit Version 4.2 Released
New version provides new, additional support for scientific research
Global Arrays Toolkit Version 4.2 Released
Results: When you are working with some of the world's fastest computers, you need software that can keep up. Enter the Global Array Toolkit. At Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a team of experts just released a new version of the award-winning software that dramatically simplifies writing code for supercomputers. Version 4.2 of GA helps scientists to translate their ideas into highly efficient software that allows mathematical computations to run independently using subsets of processors of the supercomputer.
The GA Toolkit Version 4.2 includes significant updates to the previous GA version and supports users of EMSL and others who do large-scale computational research. Also, GA 4.2 lends support for several new platforms, including an optimized port for Cray XT5, a petaflop Linux supercomputer and BlueGene/P, the second generation of Blue Gene supercomputer.
The GA provides high-level interfaces for writing parallel programs critical to scientific research such as the NWChem software package and also has been used in the development of the STOMP, SCALABLAST, parallel version of IN-SPIRE, and several other scientific applications.
Why it matters: By facilitating the writing of computational software and providing a "shared-memory" programming interface that greatly simplifies the development of programs for unconventional architectures on distributed-memory computers, the GA helps scientists conducting scientific studies on alternative fuels, nuclear safety, and environmental remediation. In addition, the GA aids those working on discovery science. At EMSL, the GA helps users advance molecular science in areas such as aerosol formation, bioremediation, catalysis, climate change, hydrogen storage, and subsurface science.
Methods: See Major Release 4.2 of the Global Arrays Package.
Acknowledgments: This work was performed at EMSL, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national scientific user facility at PNNL.
Research team: Manoj Kumar Krishnan, Bruce Palmer, Abhinav Vishnu, and Sriram Krisnamoorthy, PNNL; Vinod Tipparaju, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
