Commitment Innovation. Passion. Annual Report. National Center for High-Performance Computing

Transcription

1 Passion Commitment Innovation Annual Report National Center for High-Performance Computing

2 Table of Contents p02-04 About The NCHC p05-09 Highlights Goals and Missions 04 History 04 Domestic and 06 International Awards Major Activities 07 International Collaborations and Exhibitions 08 p10-20 Service Achievements HPC Facilities and Services Networking Facilities and Services Cloud Computing Facilities and Services p21-26 Training and Promotion 20 R&D Highlights 01

3 02 p02-04 About The NCHC

4 About The NCHC About the NCHC The National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) is a research institute under Taiwan's National Applied Research Laboratories (NARLabs). The NCHC is Taiwan s only national-level supercomputing institute that provides a large computing platform, including an open networking facility, for Taiwan s HPC communities. The NCHC integrates various technologies in science, engineering, and information technology to provide computing, networking, and storage services. The NCHC is also devoted to the development of middleware and cloud computing technologies and services. The NCHC has branch offices in the Northern (Hsinchu), Central (Taichung), and Southern (Tainan) Taiwan Science Parks, which enables it to successfully integrate its strengths and resources on both local and national levels. As a result, the NCHC is able to fully support high technology research and industry development throughout all of Taiwan s HPC communities. In order to meet its management benchmarks, as well as to offer its customers superior HPC services, the NCHC received ISO9001 Quality Management and ISO27001 Information Security Management certifications. 03

5 About The NCHC Goals and Missions The goal of the NCHC is to become an internationally renowned HPC center that promotes scientific discovery and technical innovation. Its three primary missions are service, research, and training. Since its inception, the NCHC has provided various HPC, networking, and storage services to domestic academia, government, and industry. The NCHC utilizes its rich experience, highly flexible support, and customizable services to assist its users in solving their HPC-related challenges. History 2008 The NCHC establishes its branch office in the Central Taiwan Science Park The NCHC receives ISO 27001:2005 Information Security Management certification The NCHC transforms from a government-funded institute into a non-profit organization The Executive Yuan approves the establishment of the NCHC The NCHC receives ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management and ISO 27001:2007 Information Security Management re-certification The NCHC establishes its branch office in the Southern Taiwan Science Park. The NCHC receives ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management certification. The NCHC headquarters, located in the Hsinchu Science Park, opens for business. Taiwan's National Science Council (NSC) proposes the establishment of a national-level supercomputing center. 04

6 p05-09 Highlights 05

7 Highlights Domestic and International Awards March 9 The NCHC s Clonezilla was ranked The Best Disk Cloning App for Linux by the internationally renowned software information website, Lifehacker. April 2 Clonezilla was once again selected by PC Magazine as one of The Best Free Software of in the backup/sync/storage category. June 18 The NCHC showcased its leading R&D achievement, Interactive HPC (i-hpc), at ISC 12 and demonstrated i-hpc s application in bicycle design at the show. June 18 The NCHC-developed supercomputer, Formosa 5, was ranked 232 nd on the 39 th TOP500 supercomputer list announced at ISC 12. Addtitionally, the NCHC s performance tuning technology enabled Formosa 5 to rank 3 rd among the TOP500 supercomputers built with the same hardware architecture. July 13 The Education Research Network Bandwidth Expansion Project, jointly proposed by the NCHC, Academia Sinica, and the Ministry of Education is approved. The goal of this project is to increase the bandwidth of Taiwan s education and research networks to 100 Gbps by

8 Highlights Major Activities July 10 March 9 August 31 HPC Kung Fu--NCHC 3D Animation Challenge In an effort to promote its cloud render farm and, at the same time, cultivate domestic talent in rendering technologies, the NCHC brought together workers from Taiwan s cultural industry and design students of domestic universities to participate in the first HPC Kung Fu--NCHC 3D Animation Challenge. A total of 55 student teams from 44 universities entered the competition. The Alliance of Cloud Computing Technologies and Applications (ACCTA) Conferences The NCHC hosted two ACCTA conferences and invited internationally renowned scholars including Professor Kai Hwang of the University of Southern California and Professor Lionel M. Ni of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, to engage in exchanges with representatives from Taiwan s HPC-related sectors. In both conferences, more than 100 ACCTA members were in attendance. July 5~6 The Conference on Multi-layer Information Security Research October2~4 The NCHC hosted a project results-based conference for the Multi-layer Information Security Research Platform Project at the National Taiwan University (NTU) convention center on July 5 and 6,. At the conference, domestic experts and scholars shared their experiences and exchanged opinions. More than 100 experts and scholars attended the conference. NCHC HPC Users Meetings In, the NCHC held a total of three HPC users meetings in Taipei, Hsinchu, and Tainan respectively. The meetings were held in order to better understand the HPC requirements of users, which will serve as a basis for the NCHC s future service offerings. A total of 64 users, discipline coordinators, industry users, and potential users attended the meetings. In addition to listening to their opinions and suggestions, the meetings also served to increase the NCHC s effectiveness of interaction with its users. October 30 NCHC HPC Conference The annual NCHC HPC Conference brought together nearly 200 HPC experts from academia, industry, and research, to jointly explore scientific and multi-core computing, emerging computing fields, and industrial applications, as well as to share their latest research achievements and results. Forty research results-based posters were on display during the conference illustrating the rich R&D energy of Taiwan s domestic HPC communities. 07

9 Highlights International Collaborations and Exhibitions March 19~23 The NCHC attends The Honeynet Project Annual Workshop The NCHC s Information Security team was invited to attend the annual Honeynet Project workshop and share its Honeynet Project Taiwan Chapter developments therein, as well as its malware analysis technologies. During the meeting, the NCHC engaged in multi-national discussions regarding cooperation in an international malware sample database and, at the same time, demonstrated its role as an important member of this information security alliance. May 15 The NCHC signs a MOU with Japan s Miracle Linux Corporation The NCHC signed a MOU with Japan s Miracle Linux Corporation on May 15,, thus, formally beginning a cooperative agreement in the use of the NCHC-developed free software, Clonezilla. This international collaboration between a research-based organization (i.e. the NCHC) and a commercial business venture (i.e. Miracle Linux) accented the international recognition of the NCHC s software prowess and began a new chapter in cooperation between Taiwan and Japan. May 21 The NCHC attends LinuxTag in Germany The NCHC attended LinuxTag, held in Germany, on May 21 st,. During the conference, NCHC representatives introduced the NCHC-developed free software, Clonezilla, and sought out cooperative opportunities with other international enterprises. June 17~21 The NCHC attends the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC) The NCHC showcased its achievements in GPU technology, big data computing, and various HPC applications at the ISC in Germany. A total of 2,400 HPC experts and scholars from 175 industry, academia, and research organizations from around the world attended this event. 08

10 Highlights July 7~21 The NCHC attends the Libre Software Meeting (LSM) in Europe The NCHC attended the European-based LSM event and was invited to give a talk as well as showcase its related results from the OFSET exhibition. The technologies presented by the NCHC were well-received. After the meeting, the NCHC also attended the OFSET general assembly meeting. The NCHC attends PRAGMA 23 October 9 The NCHC is an expert in the field of multi-domain heterogeneous cloud resource sharing. In September, the NCHC successfully integrated its Ezilla software with the San Diego Supercomputer Center s cloud software, Hypervisor, and demonstrated the results at PRAGMA 23. In this approach, the NCHC made a significant contribution to the future of computing resources sharing among PRAGMA members. November 12~16 The NCHC exhibits at the SC Conference in the USA The NCHC attended the premier annual supercomputing event, the international conference for High Performance Computing (HPC), networking, storage, and analysis (a.k.a. SCXX) in the USA, and exhibited its R&D results, including interactive HPC, render farm, and the Taiwan Malware Analysis Net. During the event, the NCHC also hosted technical discussions with other research institutions from around the world. 09

11 10 p10-20 Service Achievements

12 Service Achievements HPC Facilities and Services In response to the demand for its HPC services, the NCHC has created a stable cutting-edge HPC equipment and storage environment. The NCHC aims to accelerate the output of its research results and drive cutting-edge technology via its HPC services. HPC Facilities and Service Achievements Total HPC capacity 200 TFLOPS Total storage capacity 1,850 TB Projects served 761 projects User satisfaction rating % Number of papers published by users of HPC facilities, scientific and engineering software, and database services 812 papers 11

13 Service Achievements Types of Computing Resource Accounts In, the NCHC provided computing resources totaling 140 million SUs to 761 research projects including NSC projects, non-nsc projects, government R&D projects, corporate research projects, NCHC computation challenge programs (NCCPs), and NARLabs projects. Utilization analysis shows that the majority of SUs were used by NCCPs at 61.82%, followed by NSC projects at 30.7%. The total of SUs used by these two categories was over 90% of all SUs used. (Note: SU refers to a service unit which is the unit of computational resources based on the charge coefficient of each platform: Service Unit = Charge coefficient Computing hours Computing cores) NSC Project (Includes Pre-approved) % Non-NSC Project Government R&D Project Corporate Research Project NCCP Account NARLabs Account Software Floating License Account 0.18 % 0.00 % 0.14 % 7.16 % 0.00 % % 12

14 Service Achievements Application Fields of Computing Resources In terms of application fields, computational chemistry and computational physics were the top two fields of usage, followed by climate simulations, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and molecular simulations. Computing resource usage of climate simulations significantly increased from 7.09% in 2011 to 13.07% in, which indicates a substantial increase in the computing resource demand of meteorology in Taiwan. Computational Physics Computational Chemistry Climate Simulations Computational Fluid Dynamics Molecular Simulations Computational Methematics Other Computational Biology Solid and Structural Mechanics % % % % 8.32 % 5.89 % 5.33 % 3.39 % 2.96 % 13

15 Service Achievements NCHC HPC Users Meetings The NCHC held the HPC Users Meetings on October 2, 3, and 4, in Taipei, Hsinchu, and Tainan respectively. During the meetings, the NCHC communicated with its users, including potential users, to collect their opinions, suggestions, and requirements. In an open-ended questionnaire that the NCHC distributed to its users, 82% suggested that the NCHC increase its service capabilities in computing capabilities, storage, and networking. Among those users, 81% felt that the NCHC should increase its computing capabilities, 31% felt that the NCHC should increase its storage capacity, and 21% felt that the NCHC s network facilities should be enhanced as well. The NCHC also hosted discussions with its users regarding its service content, the building of a new generation of HPC, the development of next-generation networking applications, its vision for the future of cloud computing, and the development of industry-specific applications. The discussions provided valuable information for the future planning and development of Taiwan s HPC, research networks, and cloud services. NCHC HPC Users Meetings 14

16 Service Achievements Networking Facilities and Services The NCHC manages and maintains the TaiWan Advanced Research & Education Network (TWAREN). TWAREN consists of a 20Gbps backbone domestically and 5Gbps backbone connecting it to other global research networks. With its high capacity and high bandwidth, TWAREN provides an excellent research platform for Taiwan s academic research institutes. This year, the NCHC, the Ministry of Education, and Academia Sinica jointly submitted a proposal to the NSC to build a 100Gbps network in Taiwan. Once the construction of 100Gbps backbone is complete, Taiwan will not only have a solid platform over which to conduct global networking experiments, but also be able to facilitate the efforts toward next-generation network research collaborations. Networking Facilities and Service Results Domestic network availability % International network availability % Network service satisfaction % Links to academic and research institutions 4000 schools and research institutes Number of users served Roughly 4.5 million users 15

17 Service Achievements The TWAREN Network Backbone TWAREN has 4 master nodes, 12 regional network centers (a.k.a. GigaPOPs), and 1 linking node. The master nodes are located in the Ministry of Education Computing Center in the Taipei Technology Building, the NCHC s Hsinchu Headquarters, the NCHC s Taichung branch, and the NCHC s Tainan branch. The 12 GigaPOPs are located in Academia Sinica, National Taiwan University, National Central University, National Chiao Tung University, National Tsing Hua University, National Chung Hsing University, National Chi Nan University, National Chung Cheng University, National Cheng Kung University, National Sun Yat-Sen University, National Dong Hwa University, and National Ilan University. The linking node is located in National Chengchi University. NCKU NSYSU NTU 10G NCU 10G 2.5G 10G NCTU 10G Taipei 10G 2.5G NTHU 10G 2.5G*2 10G 10G*2 Hsinchu NIU 10G*2 2.5G Taichung 10G 2.5G 10G 10G 1G*4 NCNU 2.5G 10G*2 10G 10G*2 NDHU 1G 10G NTTU 1G 10G Tainan 2.5G 10G NCHC CCU ASCC NCCU TWAREN s International Connectivity TWAREN is directly connected to 35 academic research networks worldwide and is a member of numerous future network collaboration projects. TWAREN is also a key member of the global research network. STARLight Amsterdam Taipei Hsinchu 2.5G 622M Czech CESNET 2.5G 2.5G Chicago 2.5G 2.5G New York Telehouse ManLAN Pwave LA Equinix ONS device Router 16

18 Service Achievements Establishment of Big Data Transmission Channels over TWAREN s Backbone In response to the future demand for big data transmission, the NCHC has established big data transmission channels within TWAREN. The NCHC achieved 10 Gbps of peer-to-peer long distance big data transmission after establishing big data transmission servers, integrating the necessary software and hardware, and optimizing the parameters. The actual transfer speed reached 9.9 Gbps, which is sufficient for transmitting big data and shortened the transition time significantly. Cloud Facilities and Services The NCHC maintains distributed cloud computing and storage facilities on its highly stable network. It has developed numerous cloud technologies and applications in order to provide reliable cloud services including infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS). These services create a better R&D environment within Taiwan and facilitate technological innovation and research discovery. Cloud Facilities and Service Results Total capacity of cloud computing facilities TFLOPS Cloud data storage capacity 900 TB Average availability of cloud storage facilities % User satisfaction of cloud data platform 86.7 % Members of the Alliance of Cloud Computing Technologies and Applications (ACCTA) 100 members/organizations 17

19 Service Achievements The Newly Built Cloud Computing Cluster Formosa 5 The NCHC has taken on the challenge of building the largest cloud computing cluster in Taiwan, the Formosa series PC cluster called Formosa 5. Formosa 5 is made up of 92 computing nodes, each equipped with two 6-core central processing units, 3 graphics processing units, and 96 GB of memory. The 92 computing nodes share an InfiniBand 40Gbps high-speed network and storage nodes with 42 TB of hard disk space. After fine tuning, Formosa 5 achieved an optimal performance of TFLOPS and took 232 nd place on the 39 th TOP500 supercomputers list, as well as 62 nd place on the Green500 list. Cloud Storage System The NCHC expanded its cloud storage capacity to 900 TB in and successfully completed the construction of its three-location cloud data backup centers in Hsinchu, Taichung, and Tainan. This cloud storage system has been integrated with the NCHC s supercomputer, Windrider, and provides 6 TB of free cloud storage space to Windrider users. The system is also provided to Taiwan s National Space Organization and Digital Archives Project of Academia Sinica for verification of system services. 18

20 Service Achievements Cloud Render Farm Services In addition to Formosa 3, the NCHC also added Formosa 5 for use as a render farm, thus, providing 3D animation and special effects cloud render services within Taiwan. Through expanding the network of the animations industry, render farm has had more than ten users from both academia and industry. A number of animations utilized the NCHC s render farm services to produce their animated films. These films include Ripples of Desire, produced by the 3rd Vision Films, Cats from the Planet Tai Chi, produced by StarQ and Kent Animation Digital Independent Production, Inc., and Hatching, selected for presentation at SIGGRAPH and produced by White Rabbit Entertainment Inc. Furthermore, the NCHC is actively developing HPC technologies for fluid and particle special effects in its render farm. This technology was used in Ripples of Desire to create the waves, smoke, and fog special effects. 3D Fruit Fly Brain Neural Network Cloud Database The NCHC collaborated with the Brain Research Center at National Tsing Hua University in constructing the first 3D fruit fly brain neural network image database. Researchers around the world use this service platform to search and browse the 3D fly brain neural network images and further draw information transmission paths within the neural network. This platform has been used by 3,500 professionals in 76 countries, including the USA s Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Austria s Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, and Switzerland s Institute of Neuroinformatics. 19

21 Service Achievements Training and Promotion In, the NCHC offered a number of advanced courses and in-depth technology learning opportunities, including HPC-related courses and the K-12 science education camp. It offered a total of 180 courses with 2,130 attendees. The K-12 science education camp was organized in collaboration with National Taiwan University, National Chiao Tung University, National Cheng Kung University, Providence University, Ta Hwa University of Science and Technology, and Chaoyang University of Technology. Cultivating HPC Talent in Taiwan The NCHC held the Taiwan Student Cluster The Hall of Knowledge The NCHC s talent cultivation platform, The Hall of Knowledge, provides live broadcasts of popular science lectures. At present, the NCHC is working with 20 alliance members and has collected 544 lectures by renowned scholars. The platform currently has nearly 50,000 members and has had over 550,000 lectures viewed over the past two years. Cultivating Outstanding Animation Talents in Taiwan The NCHC held the first HPC Kung Fu NCHC 3D Animation Challenge to promote its render farm services and cultivate outstanding domestic animation talent. The event invited 18 experts from both industry and academia to form a panel of judges and a team to help coach the contestants. A total of 55 teams made up of 208 students from 44 universities entered into the competition, and will become a new force in the cultural and creative industry. Competition (TSCC) to provide a platform for exchange and competition based on cluster computing. In addition to teaching the competition teams cluster assembling, instructing teams on tuning technologies, and providing the Formosa PC cluster for the competition, the NCHC also provided the contestants with consultation and guidance, which enhanced the students PC cluster building capabilities. Having hosted two TSCCs, the NCHC has effectively assisted in transferring valuable HPC experience to university students and has, at the same time, created new rising stars in the field of HPC. Establishing and Maintaining the Electromagnetics Digital Education and Learning Platform The NCHC provided a unique learning path design module, specifically developed for the field of electromagnetics, to 34 universities over 70 professors and over 4,000 students. The platform will be used in the teaching activities of 80 courses over three semesters starting in the academic year of. It is expected that the platform will strengthen the trend of online learning among Taiwan s teachers and students. 20

22 p21-26 R&D Highlights 21

23 R&D Highlights Hardware Formosa 5 Cloud Computing Establishment and Performance Tuning Technology After one of the NCHC's Formosa series supercomputers won a spot on the 2003 TOP500 list, Formosa 5, a new-generation GPU-based cluster system, took 232 nd place on the 39 th TOP500 list and 62 nd place on the Green500 list in. Formosa 5 had numerous breakthroughs. Its GPU computing architecture has a processing power of TFLOPS and achievement rate of 58% after fine tuning, which is third among supercomputers with the same hardware architecture on the TOP500 list. This architecture significantly reduces costs while also increasing energy efficiency. Using the experience it gained from building Formosa 5, the NCHC transferred its technology in tuning and optimizing GPU clusters to disseminate high-level cluster technology and help bring about a better and livelier future for Taiwan's business community. Software Development of Cloud Computing Technology Cloud computing has been generally acknowledged as a key technological HPC trend over the next 5~10 years. In, the NCHC integrated its cloud computing facilities. In addition, it focused on developing energy efficient cloud computing and computing resource virtualization to increase the utilization of cloud computing resources and provide services via Cloud WebOS. Cloud service is a new computing service model that allows its users to log into the system using their web browsers at anytime and from anywhere. After the user logs in, he or she can upload and download files for computation. The user can simply chooses a type of computing cluster, and the system will then automatically create a virtual computing cluster to execute the job(s). The system further provides Internet 3D browsing results so that HPC no longer seems inaccessible, while possessing a higher level of security. Software Rapid Cloud Service Deployment Technology Utilizing its rich experience in the rapid deployment of cluster computers, the NCHC developed the Diskless Remote Boot in Linux (DRBL) and the Clonezilla open source software programs in a cloud computing environment. Clonezilla has been downloaded over 8 million times worldwide in over 80 countries and in numerous languages. Breakthroughs in Clonezilla include high program efficiency, low hardware requirements, and no installation. Additionally, users do not need to set up a server either. Clonezilla was selected by PC Magazine as one of the best free software programs in two consecutive years, and was recognized by the renowned software information website, Lifehacker, as the best disk cloning app for Linux in. Not only does it significantly reduce the complexity of booting cloud services, but it also increases the visibility of Taiwan s free software within the international society. 22

24 R&D Highlights Software Development of Data Mining Technology The NCHC plans to establish application examples in the development of data mining technologies, and thus accumulate experience in providing cloud services, as well as build a high data throughput computing environment suitable for data mining. In, the NCHC focused on the development of an intranet search engine, Crawlzilla, which is the key technology for platform as a service (PaaS) in cloud data mining. Furthermore, Crawlzilla also helps users establish personalized search services, and can thus serve as an application example for software as a service (SaaS). Software Interactive High Performance Computing Technology The NCHC s interactive high performance computing (ihpc) technology combines HPC with augmented reality to produce real-time computing interactively. Through precisely controlling the characteristics of the CPU and the GPU, ihpc is able to maximize hardware performance, thus, significantly shortening the processing time required for performing simulation tasks (i.e. a task that once required 10 days to complete, with ihpc, can be completed in 6 minutes, thus, accelerating the computing speed by over 2,000-fold)! Using ihpc, the simulation results are presented in real-time. In the future, this technology will be applied to 3D interactive teaching, flood prediction, and emergency response systems, which will in turn benefit domestic technological and industrial development. Software Molecular Dynamics Simulation Software Scientific findings and technological breakthroughs rely on theory, experiment, and simulation. Hence, the role of scientific computing simulation has attracted growing attention in the 21 st century. The NCHC developed a technical service platform for molecular dynamics simulation software that helps academic and research institutions resolve complex issues dealing with materials, physics, chemistry, and biology. The molecular dynamics technical service platform provides a molecular force field database which is available in the market and also provides customized force field modules for users to proceed engineering and science related HPC based on their individual requirements. At present, the molecular dynamics technical service platform has been applied to scientific explorations in the field of metal/glass alloy and medical/sars virus transmembrane protein. This new platform not only facilitates value-added industrial applications of new technologies, but also has great potential for further development. 23

25 R&D Highlights Environment Establishment of the Computing Platform for Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage Global warming is a scientific dilemma that environmental scientists are extremely concerned about. In order to avoid the catastrophic climate changes that result from global warming, the NCHC has established the first computing platform for carbon dioxide capture and storage in Taiwan. The NCHC develops core technologies for capture and storage computing and facilitates the domestic industrial sector in implementing international carbon reduction technologies. In, the NCHC collaborated with the Taiwan Power Company and Sinotech Engineering Consultants Inc. in conducting scenario analysis and numerical experiments on the estimated annual one million tons of carbon dioxide capture and storage in Taiwan s western basin. The NCHC s supercomputers were used to select good locations for carbon capture and storage in Taiwan, which were then provided to experts, scholars, and citizens for discussion, thus, jointly opening a new path for an era of carbon reduction. Biology Establishment of the 3D Fruit Fly Brain Neural Network Database The objective of the NCHC s 3D Biological Image Database Project is to construct the world s first interactive whole brain gene expression and neural network database with single cell resolution images. The database contains every gene of the fruit fly s brain and shows each gene s location in neurons, as well as its function and characteristics within the neural network. In, the NCHC has focused on developing programs to rapidly and automatically match 3D images of tens of thousands of neurons to a standard fruit fly brain and a 3D image display program to observe neurons from any angle. The NCHC continues to construct a database service system that allows users to observe 3D biological images via web browsers. Furthermore, the NCHC actively exchanges data with the Virtual Fly Brain Database of the University of Cambridge, England, and develops value-added applications, which help users analyze 3D neural image combinations and predict neural pathways. This technology can be used to study various senses, design related experiments, and further improve the quality of life for all mankind. 24

26 R&D Highlights Disaster Prevention Establishment of the Disaster Management Cloud Service Platform Disaster prevention technology is one of the nation s development priorities, and the NCHC has long been dedicated to developing disaster prevention and response platform technology. By collaborating with actual Software demanders, the NCHC has developed technologies that meet their requirements and can be applied directly to the government s disaster prevention practices. In, the NCHC established the disaster management cloud service platform which possesses various NCHC-developed technologies, including cloud storage for disaster prevention data, disaster image identification, and 3D GIS. The platform integrates the applications of the National Science and Technology Center for Disaster Reduction and data from the National Space Organization to assist the disaster prevention efforts of the Water Resources Agency, thereby protecting the Software lives and assets of citizens. This technological development has also attracted international attention. By participating in the European Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), the NCHC leads big data management and the development of analysis platform, which will in turn serve as an important basis for Taiwan s future development in big data analysis. Render Establishment of a Smart Render Farm In addition to providing cloud rendering services, based on databases, the NCHC also developed smart render farm management mechanisms to increase the stability and scalability of rendering services. This was done in order to achieve dynamic cloud resource allocation as well as automatic management. Also, HPC algorithms were applied in the development of this innovative special effects simulation technology to establish high performance rendering technologies for smoke, fog, and waves. The NCHC also used motion capture technology to capture the dance moves of the world-famous Cloud Gate dancers, which set a new example of integrating technology with the cultural and creative industries. The NCHC s advanced breaking wave rendering technology was also used to create key scenes in the Taiwanese film Ripples of Desire, thus, making a contribution to the development of the domestic film industry. 25

27 R&D Highlights Network and Information Security TWAREN SDN Future Internet Experiment Platform Software Defined Network (SDN) is a breakthrough in traditional network control modes. It is considered the new generation of network architecture. The NCHC has also linked together numerous academic and research institutions to build the only SDN future Internet experiment platform in Taiwan. The platform is connected to the future Internet platforms of igeni in the US and JGNX in Japan, thus, providing an international SDN experiment platform for implementing and verifying innovative network technologies in Taiwan. This achievement was successfully presented in SC12 s SCinet Research Sandbox (SRS) along with the icair of Northwestern University and Taiwan s academic and research institutions including National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, National Central University, Chunghwa Telecom Laboratories, National Chiao Tung University, National Cheng Kung University, and National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, which served to increase the NCHC s international exposure. Network and Information Security Backbone Defense Cloud System Integration The NCHC planned a backbone macrocosm defense system to maintain information security in Taiwan s education and research network. In, the NCHC integrated the cloud computing environment and distributed the backbone network information to regional computing centers and the virtual servers of the cloud computing service system. It developed the automatic import of a list for rapid matching when an attack or intrusion occurred in the cloud computing environment. This will enable studies on the highly efficient construction of the attack routes, finding the devices launching attacks and fake addresses, detecting the point and scope of infection, event classification, and ranking determination. The NCHC will, thus, be able to build comprehensive defense mechanisms on the backbone network, and hopes to provide backbone defense services to education and research networks in the near future. 26

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