Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation

SPEC/HPG Releases Benchmarks for Measuring Performance Based on OpenMP Applications

WARRENTON, Va., June 27, 2001 - SPEC's High-Performance Group (SPEC/HPG) today released a benchmark suite that measures performance using applications based on the OpenMP standard for shared-memory parallel processing. SPEC OMPM2001 is the first set of benchmarks to be released for the SPEC OMP2001 software product. A second suite, SPEC OMPL2001, is expected to follow at the end of this year.

"SPEC OMPM2001 provides compute-intensive parallel workloads that represent the next step in measuring capability and scalability of multiprocessor systems," says Kaivalya Dixit, SPEC president. "OpenMP provides a standardized directive-based approach to parallelism that allows accurate performance measurement. SPEC is extending its level playing field to benefit customers, researchers and vendors."

SPEC OMPM2001 is targeted at system vendors, software vendors, and customers of high-performance computing systems. It uses a set of shared-memory, parallel-processing applications to measure the performance of the computing system's processors, memory architecture, operating system and compiler. Eleven different application benchmarks - covering everything from computational chemistry to finite-element crash simulation to shallow water modeling - are included in the benchmark suite.

Benchmarks running under SPEC OMPM2001 use up to 1.6GB of memory and take approximately one-and-a-half hours each to run on a 350-MHz, four-processor reference machine. SPEC OMPL2001 will contain larger working sets and longer run times when it is released.

"SPEC OMPM2001 answers the need for standardized benchmarks for OpenMP-based applications that are used in industry and research," says Greg Gaertner, SPEC/HPG chair. "SPEC's run and reporting rules, along with established review processes, will help maintain accurate, repeatable and consistent benchmark results."

Run rules for SPEC OMP2001 benchmark suites are based on those used for SPEC CPU2000, the worldwide standard for evaluating computer system performance. Performance metrics can be generated to reflect more aggressive optimizations with some code modifications (SPECompMpeak2001), and for conservative options (SPECompMbase2001) such as those suggested by the compiler vendor.

SPEC OMPM2001 is available immediately from SPEC for $1,800, with a discount price of $450 for universities and other non-profit organizations. More information on SPEC OMPM2001 is available on the SPEC web site at http://www.spec.org/hpg/omp2001 or through e-mail at info@spec.org.

About SPEC

SPEC is a non-profit organization that establishes, maintains and endorses standardized benchmarks for 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: http://www.spec.org.

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