Over 100 international experts in exascale computing and big data gathered in Barcelona last week for the Big Data and Extreme-scale Computing (BDEC), the major conference for reporting ground-breaking research at the intersection of big compute and big data. Their overarching goal was to create a worldwide collaborative process focused on the co-design of software infrastructure for extreme scale science, addressing the challenges of both extreme scale computing and big data, and supporting a broad spectrum of major research domains.

Another important topic that was discussed was how to establish and maintain a global network of expertise and funding bodies in the area of exascale computing.

Attendees at the workshop included application leaders confronting diverse big data challenges along with representatives from industry, academia, and government with expertise in algorithms, computer system architecture, operating systems, workflow middleware, compilers, libraries, languages and applications.

Prior to the BDEC workshop, a BDEC for Europe workshop featured presentations from the European Commission on strategic lines in big data and exascale computing, as well as talks on EU-funded activities in this area. Among these were the PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe) infrastructure, whose Board of Directors is chaired by BSC’s Sergi Girona, the Mont-Blanc and RETHINK big projects, both coordinated by BSC, and EUDAT and RDA Europe, in which BSC participates.