Supercomputing 24 (SC24), the world’s biggest event for high-performance computing (HPC) and cloud, is quickly approaching. In late November, the industry’s major players, customers, and media will gather in Atlanta to discover the latest industry innovations and see who is leading the pack. 

The theme for this year’s event is “HPC Creates.” As I thought more about Altair’s upcoming presence at SC24, I could not help but think of the similarities between that tagline and what we will be presenting: “Altair HPC Powers the Science of Possibility.” Altair’s whole philosophy within the Altair® HPCWorks® platform is to get people creating in faster and better ways. Removing friction, empowering users, and streamlining the path to creation is our mission. 

So, ahead of SC24, I wanted to highlight three ways that Altair HPC helps organizations create and innovate like never before.

#1:  Any Workload, Any Scheduler, Any Cloud – And More

Altair’s calling card in HPC – and beyond – is our ability to provide our customers with unmatched flexibility. With Altair HPCWorks – especially users of Altair® NavOps® – customers unlock the door to a lot of “any’s”: any workload, any scheduler, any cloud, any scale, any budget, any time, and anywhere. Altair HPCWorks is the present and future of HPC management. It gives customers the freedom to work with any cloud provider (or a combination of cloud providers). It improves scalability and utilization by breaking down global resource silos; boasts broad and easy-to-use GPU management across hardware vendors; features a Kubernetes connector to share compute resources between HPC and artificial intelligence (AI) workloads, and so much more. 

This set of tools and our open and flexible approach is all about freeing the path to creation. We do not want users and administrators alike having to spend needless time babysitting the minutiae of HPC and cloud infrastructure. With Altair, infrastructure is never a constraint on what you want to achieve. If you want to spend a trillion dollars in the cloud to accelerate time to breakthrough at any cost, we can help you do that; if you want to watch costs and better utilize your cloud or on-prem infrastructure, we can help you do that too. Whatever you have and wherever you want to go, Altair can maximize your investments, time, and effort.

#2: The Altair One® Cloud Innovation Gateway

Altair One® is our cloud innovation gateway that connects everything in the Altair technology ecosystem. Built on a robust HPC backbone and decades of simulation, HPC, and AI expertise, Altair One provides everyone within an organization with seamless access to the tools, data, and computing resources they need to start creating. It is the connective tissue of innovation, the bones that support the flexing muscles of creation. 

Altair One makes life easy for both users and HPC administrators. For end users, Altair One is completely pre-packaged and provides all the benefits of game-changing HPC access without needing to worry about the back end. Things are as easy as the click of a button. For example, someone who wants to submit a job can simply press “submit.” They don’t have to worry about setting up memory, compute power, etc. because it has already been taken care of by administrators. This means more time spent creating and less time spent managing friction. 

#3: Altair’s Unique History as a Leader in Simulation, HPC, and Data

When you use Altair’s HPC and cloud tools, you also benefit from Altair’s unique history as a leader in many different fields. We have never been content to “stick to a lane” because we know no technology exists in isolation. There is no AI without HPC. Not all simulation workloads run alike on HPC. Our domain expertise is baked directly into our platforms and tools, giving you nearly 40 years of experience under your belt from the start of any project. 

For example, let’s say you’re doing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver runs. Just because you have 100 computers and seven jobs to run does not mean you are necessarily going to have the know-how to do it in an optimal fashion. But because Altair has decades of experience in both CAE and HPC, we have seen this scenario countless times. We know how to get you to where you want to go as quickly and as effectively as possible. We have taken this expertise and decades of know-how and woven it throughout Altair One and Altair HPCWorks (and our other platforms) so users benefit from it without even needing to think about it.

And as I mentioned, there is no AI without HPC – but because we are experts in both, we know how to flip the coin: to use AI to optimize HPC. Within Altair® Access™, for example, the built-in AI assistant can identify how to optimize runs based on your previous experiences within Altair HPC and built-in historical training. Eventually, this can lead to an agentic AI that could act on its own alongside admins to perform in the best interest of your HPC cluster’s efficiency, called autonomous HPC. Autonomous HPC makes compute operations more efficient, makes life easier for HPC administrators, and represents an exciting closure of the loop between HPC and AI. 

Looking Forward to SC24

At SC24, we are excited to demonstrate how our HPC and cloud technology streamlines the path to creation and redefines what it means to use HPC to innovate. There is so much talk about AI and how it can help drive innovation, as encapsulated in the newly popular refrain that “everyone is an AI company now.” What is much less talked about is HPC’s irreplaceable role in that picture. You can’t push to be an AI-driven company without understanding and dealing with HPC infrastructure. Thankfully, Altair’s HPC and cloud technology is here to make the path idea to innovation short, simple, and scalable for all our customers – no matter the industry.

To learn more about how Altair is powering the science of possibility with HPC, visit Booth #2131 at SC24. To learn more about Altair HPCWorks, visit https://altair.com/altair-hpcworks.