Newsgroups: comp.parallel.pvm
From: krone@ufps12.unifr.ch (Oliver Krone )
Subject: Switzerland: CFP: Seminar on Parallel & Dist. Computing
Organization: University of Fribourg - CH
Date: 03 Sep 1995 02:38:22 GMT
Message-ID: <KRONE.95Sep3013822@ufps12.unifr.ch>




        
            Troisieme Cycle Romand d'Informatique


	           19-20 September 1995
     Institut d'Informatique, Universite de Fribourg

	           Seminar on Parallel 
                and Distributed Computing 

      Vaidy Sunderam, Emory University, Atlanta, USA  

                    with contributions of: 
   P. Kropf, Universite Laval, Quebec, Canada, A. Schiper, EPF Lausanne, 
            B. Hirsbrunner, IIUF Fribourg


Information processing and high performance computing are rapidly
moving to a model where multiple computing elements interconnected by
networks form the standard computing environment. In the scientific
arena, this achieves improved performance and functionality; in
commercial and general purpose applications efficiency is enhanced
while enabling novel facilities and greater availability. This seminar
will focus on PVM, a software infrastructure that enables cost
effective and efficient parallel and distributed computing on
interconnected collections of heterogeneous computer systems.  PVM is
a software framework that provides a coherent and flexible programming
and usage interface to whatever collection of computers a user has
access to, and enables the aggregate cluster to be programmed as a
concurrent machine.

The seminar will discuss general principles in parallel and
distributed computing, describe the PVM computational model and
application programming interface, demonstrate logistics of PVM
operation, and present advanced topics concerning performance tuning,
profiling, graphical interfaces, and recent enhancements to the
system.

The first day is dedicated to people who are interested in parallel and
distributed computing without a special background in this area,
whereas the second day addresses more specific research related
topics.


Seminar Program 

Tuesday, September 19, 1995 

[9:45-12:00]  Session I 
              Parallel and Distributed Computing (Tutorial)

              This session will cover the principles of parallel and
              distributed computing. Models of computation, including
              the shared - vs. distributed-memory dichotomy,
              client-server vs. crowd computations, languages/shared-address 
              space/message passing
              paradigms, and programming issues will be discussed. Examples of 
              parallel processing, including partitioning and scheduling, as 
              well as distributed functions and remote procedure call will be
              presented. Outlines of general methodologies in each case, and
              typical application categories will be included.

[12:00-14:00] Lunch 

[14:00-16:15]  Session II 
               PVM Parallel Virtual Machine (Tutorial)
               
               Concurrent computing, based on explicit parallelism and the 
               message passing paradigm, is emerging as the methodology of 
               choice for high performance computing. PVM (Parallel Virtual
               Machine) is a software system for concurrent computing on
               multiple heterogeneous platforms, including clusters and
               networks of workstations. This session will describe the PVM
               system, and explain aspects relating to (a) principles of
               message-passing programming and network computing; (b)
               application programming using the PVM API; (c) obtaining,
               installing and operating the PVM software; (d) advanced
               topics including efficiency, profiling, and other tools. In
               addition to PVM, the session will also discuss the new MPI
               standard, highlight similarities and differences between PVM
               and MPI, and outline potential transition paths. A comparison 
               with ISIS will conclude this session.

[16:30--] Discussion 


Wednesday, September 20, 1995 


[9:45-12:00] Session III 
             PVM: Advanced Topics and Research Projects
       
             This session will discuss advanced features of the PVM system,
	     including implementation issues and performance tuning
	     techniques, profiling, debugging distributed programs,
	     and developing extensions. The second half of this session
	     will describe ongoing research initiatives in the context of 
	     the PVM system - recent benchmarking experiences, 
             the investigation
	     of a threads-based concurrent computing model, and extending the
	     applicability and functionality of PVM by incorporating general
             purpose distributed computing facilities and support for
 	     parallel input/output.

[12:00-14:00] Lunch 

[14:00-17:15] Session IV 
              Workshop: Ongoing Research Projects
         
             This session serves as an open forum for ongoing research
	     projects around message passing platforms.  Every participant
	     of this seminar is highly encouraged to give a short
	     presentation of his/her research project. Already confirmed
	     presentations:
 
               Phoenix: A Platform for the Development of Fault
	          Tolerance Distributed Applications (A. Schiper, EPF Lausanne)
               Parallel and Distributed Computing -- Experiences in
	           Real Applications (P. Kropf, Quebec) 
               Pt-pvm: A Platform  for Multi-Threaded Applications  
                  (B. Hirsbrunner, Fribourg)


Invited Lecturer

Vaidy Sunderam is a Professor in the Department of Math Computer
Science at Emory University, Atlanta, USA, where he has been on the
faculty since 1986. He received his PhD in Computer Science from the
University of Kent, England, where he was a United Kingdom
Commonwealth scholar from 1983 to 1986. His current and recent
research focus on high-performance concurrent computing in
heterogeneous networked environments. He is the original inventor and
principal architect of the PVM system which is in use at several
thousand institutions worldwide for heterogeneous concurrent
computing, and was awarded the 1990 IBM supercomputing prize for his
research contributions in this area. Sunderam is also co-principal
investigator of the EcliPSe research project, a second generation
system for high performance distributed supercomputing, that recently
won the IEEE Gordon Bell Prize for parallel processing. Recently his
research accomplishments have included novel techniques for
multithreaded concurrent computing, input-output models and
methodologies for distributed systems, and failure resilient computing
on wide area networks. Sunderam has published over sixty technical
papers and is the recipient of several research grants from various
federal agencies. He serves on a number of conference program
committees, journal editorial boards, and advisory panels of the
National Science Foundation, and is a member of IEEE and the ACM.


Registration Form (Deadline 15 September)

Name: .....................................................
Institution: ..............................................
...........................................................
Address: ..................................................
...........................................................
...........................................................
E-mail: ...................................................
Title of presentation for session IV (if desired):......... 
...........................................................
...........................................................

Registration Fees

Member of Swiss university            No charge 
Member of Swiss informatics society   sFr 150 
Others                                sFr 300 


Please send registration forms to: 

Prof. Beat Hirsbrunner, 
Institut d'Informatique, Universite de Fribourg 
Chemin du Musee 3, CH-1700 Fribourg, Switzerland 
Tel.: +41/37/298467, FAX: +41/37/299731,
E-mail: Beat.Hirsbrunner@unifr.ch 

Electronic submissions and registrations are encouraged

-- 
Oliver Krone 

