SC2004 News - March Edition

This is the first in a series of SC2004 monthly newsletters. If you are receiving this newsletter, it is because you attended a previous SC conference. The newsletter is intended to give you useful, up-to-date information about SC2004 through short articles, urls and email addresses.

** SC2004 to Convene November 6-12 in Pittsburgh **

Like past conferences in the SC series, SC2004 will bring together representatives from many technical and scientific communities to exchange ideas, celebrate past successes and plan for the future. This year's conference theme, Bridging Communities, represents not only the bringing together of the many technical communities that participate in the conference, but also the architecture of the city. We will utilize state-of-the-art technology in the conference high-performance network, SCinet, and in the Access Grid to bring participants from around the world to Pittsburgh . And at the convention center itself, the Technical Program, Education Program, and Minority Serving Institutions Program will all create bridges to new communities.

** New at SC2004: StorCloud and InfoStar **

Two new initiatives---StorCloud and InfoStar---promise to enrich the SC experience this year. StorCloud will create a high performance computing storage capability to showcase HPC storage technologies, including topologies, devices, and interconnects. StorCloud will use state-of-the-art heterogeneous devices and technology to build a virtual on-site “storage on request” area network capability to support researchers and demonstrate high bandwidth applications. In addition to showcasing revolutionary storage technologies, StorCloud hopes to provide 1 Petabyte of randomly accessible storage, provide infrastructure bandwidth of nearly 1 terabyte per second, and provide backup bandwidth of 1 gigabyte per second. StorCloud will utilize the SCinet infrastructure to manage and allocate resources to SC2004 participants. StorCloud will be architected and deployed entirely by volunteers from the organizations and companies that participate in SC.

InfoStar will provide real-time information on a wide range of conference happenings and will create a searchable knowledge base about conference events and attendance for the benefit of future SC conference planners. Technical program participants will be able to obtain daily information about sessions, including updated information about each presentation, speaker biographies, and notes when available. Session organizers will have upload rights to provide updated information about their session to all InfoStar users. Exhibit-goers will have up-to-the-minute information about each booth and vendor on the show floor, and exhibitors will also be able to upload new information to the InfoStar system. Conference attendees will be able to access InfoStar through the SCinet wireless network or through dedicated kiosks in the conference hall. InfoStar information might also be made available to PDAs. For more information click on the InfoStar web page.

** Submissions Website is Open **

The SC2004 program committee is now accepting submissions for the following: papers, tutorials, posters, HPC Software Challenge, BOFS, panels, Gordon Bell Prize nominations,  education program (team applications and CIO/TLCD applications), SC Global and applications for student volunteers.

The submissions website url is www.sc-submissions.org. The deadline for submissions is April 19. Notices of intent to participate in the StorCloud Challenge are also due April 19. For more technical program information, click on the Technical Program page.

** SC Global Participants Sought **

It’s time to start planning to participate in SC Global 2004, the Access Grid-enabled component of SC2004. SC Global offers a chance for people to participate in SC2004 without leaving home and to contribute to SC2004 from a remote location. SC Global will connect the main conference location in Pittsburgh with remote sites around the world using the Access Grid (AG), an ensemble of resources that can be used to support human interaction across the grid. The AG runs over high performance IP networks and has been in use since the summer of 1999 for distributed conferences, workshops, and meetings both large and small. Submissions for all SC Global categories, including birds-of-a-feather, are due April 19.

** Research Exhibits Booth Selection Begins in mid-April **

SC2004 research exhibitors are reminded that the booth selection process will begin in mid-April.  Exhibitors will soon receive an email with a url, where they will be able to view the exhibit hall floor plan, enter booth abstracts and contact information, request network connections, and prepare to make booth selections. New exhibitors should send email to research-exhibits04@sc-conference.org to make sure they are on the research exhibits mailing list in time to make their booth selection. Likewise, previous exhibitors who have not yet been contacted should send email to the above address

** Education Program Focuses on Teacher Teams **

Teams of undergraduate faculty, K-12 teachers and directors, and chief information officers at university-based educational centers are invited to participate in the SC Education Program, to be held over the first four days of SC2004. This year's theme is “A K-20 Comprehensive Educational Agenda for High Performance Computing.” For the first time, the Education Program will consist of two tracks: an Instructional Track aimed at both newcomers and experienced participants, focused on integrating computational science into classroom instruction; and a new Technology Integration Leadership track, aimed at higher education Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Directors of teaching and learning centers interested in the potentials, applications, and implementations of high performance computing.  For more information, visit the Education Program page at this website or email education04@sc-conference.org.

** Upcoming Dates to Remember **

March 29, 2004
Website for submissions opens

April 19, 2004
Deadline for Gordon Bell Prize nominations

Submission deadline for:

-Tutorials

-Technical Papers

-Panels

-SC Global categories (Showcase, BOFs, Panels, Papers)

-Research Exhibits space and networking requirements

Notice of intent to participate in the StorCloud Challenge

May 24, 2004
Applications for Education Program due