IEEE International Scalable Computing Challenge (SCALE 2015)
Co-located with IEEE/ACM CCGrid, 2015
OBJECTIVE AND FOCUS
The Eighth IEEE International Scalable Computing Challenge (SCALE 2015) is sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society Technical Committee on Scalable Computing (TCSC). The objective of the SCALE Challenge is to highlight and showcase real-world problem solving using computing that scales.
Effective solutions to many scientific and engineering problems require applications that can scale. There are different dimensions to application scaling: for example, applications can scale-up to a large number of cores on a compute unit, scale-out to utilize multiple distinct compute units, or exhibit elastic scaling to acquire and release resources on-demand, based on current need. In order to scale, applications to be supported by tools, middleware, software cyber-infrastructure, programming frameworks, computing infrastructure, and so on. The SCALE Challenge is concerned with advances in application development and their supporting infrastructure that enable scaling.
FORMAT
Competitors submit proposals as white papers in advance that outline the nature of the problem being solved, the solution technique, and document the scalability achieved. From these proposals, a technical committee will select finalists to present their work and demonstrate their system or software in action at the CCGrid conference. The judges will award a first prize winner at the conference. The white paper of the finalists will also appear in the proceedings of the CCGrid Conference.
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
The Eighth IEEE International Scalable Computing Challenge (SCALE 2015) contest will focus on end-to-end problem solving using concepts, technologies and architectures (including Clusters, Grids and Clouds) that facilitate scaling. Participants in the challenge will be expected to identify significant current real-world problems where scalable computing techniques can be effectively used, and design, implement, evaluate and demonstrate solutions. SCALE 2015 will be held in conjunction with the 15th CCGrid Conference in Shenzhen, China on May 5-7, 2015.
We invite teams to submit white papers outlining the problem addressed and the technologies employed to enable applications to scale. Proposals may be up to 6 pages long in the standard IEEE paper format. In addition to listing team members and contact information, the proposals should clearly outline:
- Overview of problem being solved and the techniques employed
- The application scenario and its requirements
- Performance metrics (number of cores, computational throughput, I/O bandwidth, metadata operations, etc.), supporting data and a qualitative description of how the application scales - scale-up, scale-out or any other type of scaling
- The solution - architecture, underlying concepts and technologies used - highlighting the innovative aspects of the solution
- Impact of the solution, including extensibility and uniqueness of results, and the extent to which the presented solution pushes the envelope in scalable computing
- Analysis of solution and technology employed compared to related approaches
Papers will be shortlisted by a technical committee using the above merit criteria. Up to 5 papers will be invited to compete in a final round at CCGrid 2015. At least one member from each selected team must register, present and demonstrate their project at CCGrid 2015. Participation from students and early-career researchers, especially in leadership roles, is strongly encouraged.
The finalists will be judged on the quality of their presentation and demonstration, as well as their responses to questions by a technical committee, and a first prize awarded. Tentatively, the following cash awards sponsored by nVIDIA will be presented:
- First Place Award: USD 1000
- Finalist Awards: USD 500
Papers of the finalists will appear in the CCGrid conference proceedings.
SCALE 2015 proposals can be submitted at the conference submission site under the SCALE Challenge Track: https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ccgrid2015
AWARDS
TBAIMPORTANT DATES
- Abstract submission: 8 Feb 2015
- Proposal submission: 15 Feb 2015 (extended)
- Decisions: 1 Mar 2015
- Camera ready: 20 Mar 2015
- Final presentation/demo: Between 4-7 May 2015
CO-CHAIRS
- Yogesh Simmhan, Indian Institute of Science, India, simmhan@serc.iisc.in
- James Lin, Shanghai Jiao-Tong University, China, lin-xh@sjtu.edu.cn
TECHNICAL COMMITTEE
- Joseph Antony, Australian National University, Australia
- Toshio Endo, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
- Alexandru Iosup, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
- Lavanya Ramakrishnan, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, USA
- Simon See, NVIDIA, Singapore
- BingQiang Wang, National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen, China