Subject: Java Event at SC'99

From: Ronald F Boisvert <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 03 Sep 1999 16:39:19 -0400

PANEL : The Role of Java in High Performance Network Computing

Friday November 19, 1999 (8:30 am)
SC99, Portland, Oregon

ABSTRACT

This panel, which is sponsored by the Java Grande Forum, will
review recent progress in the use of Java in high performance
network computing.

The Java Grande Forum (JGF) is an open forum with industrial,
academic and government participants motivated by the notion that
Java could be the best possible development environment for "grande"
applications.  Grande applications are those demanding significant
computing resources; they include classic high performance numerical
computing such as fluid dynamics simulations, but also problems
such as data mining and analysis, where large-scale I/O and network
access is required.  Java's potential is based on its high degree
of portability, its network-aware environment, its vast array of
utilities and services, and its widespread acceptance.  There are
now early signs that Java performance need not be lackluster: codes
showing performance in the range of 50-90% of optimized Fortran or
C have been demonstrated.  Nevertheless, routine success for grande
applications will only be realized if significant extensions to
the Java language and platform are adopted.

The major goal of the JGF is to assess that status of Java for grande
applications, to clearly articulate community requirements, and to
provide proposals for extensions.  The JGF has two major units:
the Numerics Working Group, and the Concurrency and Applications
Working Group.  The JGF and its working groups host open meetings,
and develop reports, benchmark suites, and prototype class libraries.
The JGF Web page is at http://www.javagrande.org/.

Panelists will briefly describe the current status of JGF activities
and present several applications in which high performance computing
and Java intersect.

PANELISTS

  Geoffrey Fox, Syracuse University, Co-Chair
  (Introduction to the Java Grande Forum)

  Ronald F. Boisvert, NIST, Co-Chair
  (Numerical Computing in Java)

  Dennis Gannon, Indiana University
  (Concurrency in Java)

  George Almasi, IBM
  (Java in the Real World: the Safeway Project)

  Denis Caromel, INRIA
  (DIVA: Distributed and Interactive Virtual World in Java)