Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation

SPEC HPG Releases New Benchmark Suite Based on High-Performance Computing Applications, MPI & OpenMP

WARRENTON, Va., January 9, 2003 - The Standard Performance Evaluation Corp.'s High-Performance Group (SPEC HPG, http://www.spec.org/hpg/) announces SPEC HPC2002, a new benchmark suite based on high-performance computing (HPC) applications and the MPI and OpenMP standards for parallel processing.

SPEC HPC2002 is targeted at those who evaluate performance for HPC systems, including users, system vendors, software vendors, and researchers. It uses a set of actual applications to measure the performance of the computing system's processors, memory architecture, operating system, parallel libraries, and compilers.

"The real-world applications in SPEC HPC2002 provide the best industry-standard way to measure capability and scalability of HPC systems,"says Kaivalya Dixit, SPEC president. "MPI and OpenMP extend the standardized SPEC approach to encompass accurate multiplatform performance measurement for parallel processing."

SPEC HPC2002 improves upon and replaces the SPEC HPC96 benchmark suite. The new benchmarks include full applications and message-passing protocols that complement the recently released SPEC OMP benchmark suites.

The SPEC HPC2002 suite comprises three benchmarks, each with a small- and medium-sized data set:

• SPEC ENV2002 is based on a weather research and forecasting model called WRF. It has two metrics of performance, SPECenvM2002 and SPECenvS2002, one for each dataset size.
  
• SPEC CHEM2002 is based on a quantum chemistry application called GAMESS; its performance metrics are SPECchemM2002 and SPECchemS2002.
  
• SPEC SEIS2002 represents an industrial application that performs time and depth migrations used to locate gas and oil deposits; its performance metrics are SPECseisM2002 and SPECseisS2002.

SPEC HPC2002 metrics represent the number of successive benchmark runs that can be completed in a 24-hour period on a system being tested. Results can be compared for different parallel architectures, shared-memory or distributed-memory (cluster). This allows users to compare performance based on full applications across a range of modern high-performance architectures.

"SPEC HPC2002 answers the need for standardized benchmarks based on HPC applications from industry and research using the MPI and OpenMP standards," says Wesley Jones, SPEC HPG chair. "SPEC's run and reporting rules, run tools, and established review processes help maintain accurate, repeatable and consistent benchmark results."

SPEC HPC2002 is available immediately from SPEC for $3,000, with a discount price of $750 for universities and other non-profit organizations. More information on SPEC HPC2002 is available on the SPEC web site at http://www.spec.org/hpc2002/ or through e-mail at info@spec.org.

About SPEC
SPEC is a non-profit organization that establishes, maintains and endorses standardized benchmarks to measure the performance of the newest generation of high-performance computers. Its membership comprises leading computer hardware and software vendors, universities, and research organizations worldwide. For more information, contact Dianne Rice, SPEC, 6585 Merchant Place, Ste. 100, Warrenton, VA 20187, USA; phone: 540-349-7878; fax: 540-349-5992; e-mail: info@spec.org; web: www.spec.org.