Creating faster and more efficient data-intensive software applications

The Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) is coordinating the European research project ADMIRE, financed by the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), whose main objective is to promote faster and more efficient data-intensive applications. It will develop an adaptive storage system and a clearly defined programming interface for optimising machine learning and data-intensive applications. One of the problems with today's data-intensive applications on high-performance computers is that they have poor input/output (I/O) performance, which affects the runtime of applications handling massive amounts of data. The aim of this project is to develop a new system software for future Exascale computers in order to optimise massive data handling operations so that applications can run faster and therefore perform better. "It is quite a ground-breaking project when you look at what has traditionally happened in high-performance computing. This is because, for the first time, we are dealing with the optimisation and readjustment of the I/O system while the applications are running," says Jesús Carretero, a lecturer in the UC3M's Department of Computer Science and head of the ADMIRE project at the University. The main technological challenge facing the research team on the ADMIRE project involves creating software that optimises I/O management, i.e., information flows.