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A
highly rewarding association
Natarajan
Mohanram is the Programme Coordinator of System
Software at C-DAC, Bangalore, where he supervises
the System Software Development Group.
 I
joined C-DAC, Bangalore in 1989 attracted by
the challenge to put India onto the world map
of Supercomputing. My immediate assignment was
to develop a high performance supercomputer.
Our team after extensive study and simulation
converged on a parallel system architecture
based on the Intel's i860 RISC processor embedded
in a mesh network with support for cut-through
routing. We built a prototype system scalable
to 20 GFLOPS with FPGA routers and i960 enabled
communication engines. Though we were not fortunate
to see a production version of the system due
to changes, in the priorities of C-DAC, we felt
rewarded by the immense technology challenges
posed by the project.
I
subsequently focussed on the Architecture and
System Software for the PARAM series of High
Performance Systems. Over a period of time we
developed the HPCC software for the OpenFrame
architecture. We had made and continue to make
significant contributions towards the design
and engineering of C-DAC's system area networks
and optimizations of grand challenge applications
on the PARAM. A very significant achievement
has been the substantial optimizations done
on the weather code. We are now on the threshold
of achieving ISO certification for system software
development activities. This quality movement
needs to spread throughout the organization
and we should subsequently aim for higher levels
of quality
As
chief architect of system software I need to
interact with the hardware and application groups.
This interaction has helped me to appreciate
the overall complexities of building high performance
systems and also provided the opportunity to
interact and share ideas with some of the best
hardware and application engineers.
The
unique opportunity to work on leading edge technologies
in an open and flexible environment has been
the major motivating factor for my long association
with C-DAC. Also lack of a rigid hierarchy in
C-DAC facilitates sharing of knowledge and experience
and nurtures innovation.
C-DAC
is now rightly focusing on both R&D and business.
This combined focus will improve the transfer
rate of lab technology into future products.
It should continue to focus on projects that
are significant to the evolution of technology.
Investigating novel technologies and methodologies
through high-risk projects can lead to findings
which could have dramatic potential.
My
long association with C-DAC has been highly
rewarding and I hope to continue this association
for several more years.
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