Parallel, Distributed and Network-based Computing: an Application Perspective

Abstract

Parallel, distributed and network-based computing is a continuosly evolving field, driven by progress in microprocessor architecture and interconnection technology, as well as by the needs of computing- and data-intensive applications in science and engineering, and, more recently, in business. This field is currently undergoing a significant change, because of the development of multicore and manycore processors, GPUs, and FPGAs, which are the new building blocks of parallel architectures. At the other end of the parallel and distributed computing scenario, computational grids are far from being a mature infrastructure and are evolving toward cloud computing, to get a higher level of virtualization.

The availability of programming models, algorithms and software tools capable of harnessing the processing power offered by the new technologies is a key issue to make them usable by application developers. This special issue provides a view of the efforts carried out in this direction.

• Barlas introduces an optimization approach for reducing data communication and load imbalance in medical image matching on Grids.
• Binzenhöfer et al. present a distributed and scalable algorithm to monitor a p2p network.
• Cesario and Talia discuss the use of data mining models and services on Grid systems for analysis of large data repositories.
• Danelutto et al. describe a performance model for component-based applications with stream communication semantics running on Grids.
• Danese et al. describe a FPGA-based coprocessor to accelerate double precision floating point operations in high-performance applications.
• Gross and Marquardt introduce a graphical editor providing abstractions from base technology for user-friendly configuration of Ubiquitous Computing environments.

The papers collected here are selected extended versions of papers presented at PDP 2007, the Fifteenth Euromicro Conference on Parallel, Distributed and Network-based Processing, held in Naples, Italy, in February 2007. The conference was organized by the Institute for High-Performance Computing and Networking (ICAR) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) in collaboration with the Second University of Naples, the University of Naples Parthenope and the University of Naples Federico II.

We thank the editors of Scalable Computing: Practice and Experience for providing us the opportunity of publishing this issue, the authors for their contributions, and the referees for their precious help in selecting good-quality papers.

Pasqua D'Ambra
Institute for High-Performance Computing and Networking (ICAR), CNR
Naples, Italy
pasqua.dambra@cnr.it

Daniela di Serafino
Department of Mathematics, Second University of Naples
Caserta, Italy
daniela.diserafino@unina2.it

Mario Rosario Guarracino
Institute for High-Performance Computing and Networking (ICAR), CNR
Naples, Italy
mario.guarracino@cnr.it

Francesca Perla
Department of Statistics and Mathematics for Economic Research,
University of Naples Parthenope
Naples, Italy
francesca.perla@uniparthenope.it