Newsgroups: comp.sys.super,comp.parallel,comp.parallel.pvm,comp.parallel.mpi
From: jeffb@jeffsHP.Lanl.GOV (Jeff Brown)
Subject: Final Announcement: Ptools Consortium General Meeting
Organization: LANL
Date: Tue, 14 May 1996 21:15:56 +0000 (GMT)
Message-ID: <4ncj73$kso@usenet.srv.cis.pitt.edu>

Parallel Tools Consortium General Meeting: final announcement

Attention! The deadline for registration is this Friday (May 17)!

Registration Deadline:
   Friday, May 17 for U.S. citizens or non-U.S. citizens WITH Green Card.

Important: No on-site registrations will be accepted.

Please direct general questions about the meeting to:

        Jeff Brown
        Los Alamos National Laboratory
        (505) 665-4655
        jeffb@lanl.gov

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               Attention:  Parallel Application Programmers!

  Are you generally frustrated by the lack of robust, widespread and genuinely
  useful tools for developing, debugging, and tuning large-scale parallel
  programs?  When you consider how many tool developers there are and how many
  end-user programmers there are, does it seem like a tiny tail has been
  wagging a huge dog?  Are you part of the silent majority of real end-user
  programmers who never get the opportunity to explain what is  *really* needed?

  The Parallel Tools Consortium was formed in late 1993 to address exactly
  these issues.  The group consists of real users and real developers who
  actually talk to each other and who are completing the development of
  100% user-specified tools.  We have found that developers - some from
  academia, others from the major HPC vendors (H-P/Convex, IBM, Intel, Meiko,
  SGI/Cray Research, etc.) and the government - are very open to end-users'
  needs and opinions.

  We strongly encourage you to attend the third annual 2.5-day meeting
  sponsored by the non-profit consortium.  The meeting is designed to get
  tool developers and end-user programmers together in a forum where
  users tell tool developers *directly* what does and does not work for
  them and why.  Since this is not a sales-oriented event, marketing people
  are discouraged from attending; there will be no vendor representatives
  to "interpret" what you tell them for their own tool developers.
  You will also be able to see and comment on the tools that we
  have already built and talk to the people who built them.  Tool
  prototypes are freely available.

  If you would like a say in the types of software tools for parallelism
  you will be seeing soon, plan to come to sunny California in June!
  Complete details follow.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

                          CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
                      (with registration information)

                         Parallel Tools Consortium
                        Third Annual General Meeting
                              June 5-7, 1996
                          NASA Ames Research Center
                       Moffett Field, California, USA


         Hosted by the Numerical Aerodynamic Simulation (NAS) Systems
                    Division, NASA Ames Research Center.

Users, developers, and vendors of tools for parallel
computers are invited to participate in the Parallel Tools
(Ptools) Consortium's third annual meeting.  The consortium
offers a forum for an exchange of ideas on improving the
usability of parallel tools.  Ptools was established in response
to concerns that effective parallel tool development requires
more input from the user community.

The consortium establishes groups to work on new tool
projects that:

        - respond to demonstrable user needs
        - involve vendors, researchers, and users
        - create tools that behave consistently across
          multiple platforms
        - produce public-domain prototypes

Five Ptools projects are currently underway or have already
been completed.  Membership in the Ptools Consortium is open
to anyone interested in parallel programming tools.  For
more information about the consortium, see the World Wide Web

          at URL http://www.llnl.gov/ptools/ptools.html

This year's annual meeting will feature presentations on
current projects within the consortium and three breakout
sessions where users will get an opportunity to express their
tool needs.  Tool developers and researchers will present
posters and demos on current projects.


Who Should Attend
-----------------

Anyone interested in better software support for parallel
computing is encouraged to attend.  This includes tool users
and developers from national laboratories, supercomputing
centers, universities, computer manufacturers, software
vendors, and industrial and government sites engaged in
parallel computing.  The consortium is particularly eager to
involve users who are willing to discuss their requirements
for software tools.


Preliminary Agenda
------------------

Day 1 -- Wednesday, June 5, 1996

       1:00 - 1:30      Welcome to NASA , Walt Brooks
                        Introduction to Ptools, Cherri Pancake

       1:30 - 2:00      Speaker from DOE, Rod Oldehoeft

       2:00 - 3:30      Ptools project overviews and vendor implementations

       3:30 - 4:00      Introduction to the breakout sessions

       4:00 - 6:30      Poster/Demo session and reception
                        (NAS Facility, Bldg. 258)

                        Dinner (on own)
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 2 -- Thursday, June 6, 1996

       8:30 - 10:00     Breakout Session 1: What parallel program
                        development tasks are the biggest time
                        wasters and could be automated?

                        Break out into small groups to discuss what the
                        most tedious and time-wasting tasks associated with
                        the development of parallel programs are, and what
                        tools could be developed to help automate this work.

      10:00 - 10:15     Break

      10:15 - 11:45     Breakout Session 2: What existing serial tools do
                        you wish you had available for use in developing
                        parallel programs?

                        In small groups, discuss your favorite serial
                        development tools and capabilities which would
                        be useful in parallel program development.

      11:45 -  1:15     Lunch (on own)

       1:15 -  2:45     Plenary session for Breakout Sessions 1 and 2
                        Presentations from each of the the small groups

       2:45 -  3:00     Break

       3:00 -  4:30     Breakout Session 3: Future Ptools projects

                        A discussion of what future tool projects could be
                        initiated by the Ptools Consortium to address the
                        issues raised in the previous breakout sessions, and
                        generally make the task of parallel program development
                        easier.

        4:30 - 6:30     Reception (Visitors Center, Bldg. 223)

                        Dinner (on own)
----------------------------------------------------------------

Day 3 -- Friday, June 8, 1995

        8:30 - 10:00    Plenary session on Breakout Session 3
                        (A presentation from each group)

       10:00 - 10:30    Break

       10:30 - 11:15    Ken Koch, Los Alamos Natinal Laboratory
                  	Application Development for Clustered SMPs

       11:15 - 11:45    Panel: Future Ptools Directions: User Perspective

                        From the user perspective, what general future role
                        should the Ptools Consortium play to help advance
                        the usability of parallel computers and ease the
                        task of parallel program development?

Please note that the meeting begins and ends at mid-day to
permit travel to and from the site on the same days as the meeting.


The meeting site
----------------

NASA Ames Research Center is located at Moffett Field, California, USA
(in the San Francisco Bay Area).  San Jose International Airport is
the nearest major airport, and both San Francisco and Oakland are
reasonable alternatives.

Directions:

Going North on 101 (from the San Jose area):
Take the Moffett Field exit.

Going South on 101 (from the San Francisco area):
Take the Moffett Field (NOT the Moffett Blvd.) exit.

At the Main Navy gate, turn right, into the small parking lot by
building 26. (This is the new location for the Pass & I.D./Visitors
Badging office.) You must stop here to obtain a pass for Ames access.
Follow the Ptools directional signs for the meeting location.


Accommodations
--------------

There are two hotels very near the meeting site:

The County Inn:
850 Leong Drive (corner of Moffett Blvd.)
Mountain View, CA 94043
(800) 828-1132 or (415) 961-1131

Located across US Highway 101 from NASA Ames;
about a ten minute walk from the Moffett Field Main Gate.
$90/night

The Sundowner Inn:
504 Ross Drive (corner of Mathilda)
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
(800) 223-9901 or (408) 734-9900

Located approximately three miles southeast of
NASA on Highway 101 and is not within walking distance.
$75/night (mention the Ptools Meeting to receive this rate)
Make your reservation no later than May 27.

Participants are responsible for their own transportation
from their hotel to the meeting site.


Registration
------------

Registration Deadline:

   Friday, May 17 for U.S. citizens or non-U.S. citizens WITH Green Card.
   Wednesday, May 1 for non-U.S. citizens WITHOUT Green Card.

No on-site registrations will be accepted.

Direct general questions about the meeting to:

        Jeff Brown
        Los Alamos National Laboratory
        (505) 665-4655
        jeffb@lanl.gov

Foreign Nationals:  NASA Ames requires extra time to process
your access approval.  You must bring your passport or Green
Card to the meeting site.  The registration deadline for
non-U.S. citizens is May 1.  If you are not a permanent
resident of the U.S., you must include the following
additional information on your registration form:  your full
name; date of birth; organizational affiliation;
citizenship; passport number; date and place of passport
issue; expiration date of your passport; and date of birth.



                 --- Registration form ---

                 Parallel Tools Consortium
                   Third General Meeting
    NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California
                      June 5-7, 1996


(Please type or print)

Name:
         (Last, First, Middle)

Organization:

Address:

Phone:                          Fax:

Email:

List any special needs (dietary or other):



Nationality (check one):
  __ U.S. citizen
  __ Non-U.S. citizen, Permanent Resident status (must bring
     Green Card)

--------------------------------------------------------------------

__ Foreign National (must bring passport and complete the following)

        Date of birth:

        Citizenship:

        Passport number:

        Date of issue:

        Place of issue:

        Date of expiration:

        Date of birth:

Registration fee is $100 (U.S. dollars); make checks payable
to Oregon State University Foundation, with a memo "Parallel
Tools Consortium".

Send registration information and payment to:

        Ronald N. O'Leary
        Department of Computer Science
        Oregon State University
        Dearborn Hall 304
        Corvallis, OR  97331-3202

        oleary@research.cs.orst.edu
        fax: (503) 737-3014

