Compucon CPD Seminar
Wed 13 February 2013
Compucon House

4:00pm - 4:20pm             Inside the Square
4:20pm – 5:00pm             Parallel Computing (TN)
5:00pm - 6:00pm             Adaptec-7 RAID Introduction (Neil Cameron)
6:00pm - 7:30pm             Wine & Cheese

Inside the Square- Semiconductors

Whilst we stepped onto the Moon that is 384,405 kilometres away more than 40 years ago, we have not gone inside the Earth deeper than a single kilometre.  Likewise we have talked about “outside the square” many times in previous years, we have never mentioned semiconductors and transistors that are the core of our computers, servers, laptops, tablets and smart phones.  We will go inside the square on this occasion and discuss about terms that our customers expect us to know as IT professionals.  We will talk about these terms and how they relate to each other: semiconductors, transistors, CMOS, diodes, LED, triodes, wafer, Boolean algebra, integrated circuits, chips, and this one not to be missed- silicon.  Most if not of all these terms are in the domain of Electronics.  However, this session is not a lesson in Electronics, but is an exploration trip of a laymen team into a silicon cave just underneath the surface.   We believe these discussions will give our peers more confidence at work and when dealing with customers.

Parallel Computing- a preview of 2013 developments

We have discussed parallel computing in previous years in 2 different contexts. The earlier discussions were on digital content creation such as 3D CAD, engineering design, video and movie making.  The special hardware is Quadro GPU.  The more recent discussions were on digital concept creation such as the very huge as in N-Body astronomical behaviour simulations and the very small as in NAMD microbiology dynamic studies.  The special hardware is Tesla GPU.   As far as parallel computing is concerned, both areas use the same technology but with different emphases.  This session will go deeper to examine why parallel computing will dominate the digital age from now on, how software applications can benefit from GPU which is called heterogeneous computing (as against pure CPU),  efforts being made to expedite or simplify the relationship between hardware and applications, and the current state of technology.  This session is a preview of a presentation to be given in Wellington 6 days later in an international conference that is lined up with architects from Intel, IBM, Oracle (Sun), FreeBSD, and many university researchers on parallel computing- www.multicoreworld.com.   The conference registration fee is $950 + GST.   This session is free of charge for Compucon peers.  This session is not meant to tell peers how to fix a computer fault.  It is meant to provide the very fundamental knowledge that will help us move up the ladder over time in the near future.

Adaptec-7 RAID Product Introduction

Adaptec Asia Pacific Storage Advisor Neil Cameron will talk about how to get high performance from RAID. Adaptec have released their new Series 7 range of RAID controllers with a strong focus on SSD performance and flexibility in storage configurations. With solutions from 8 to 24 ports onboard, new 16-port low-profile connectors and PCIe v3 performance, the Series 7 brings a wide range of possibilities to the storage provider.  Neil is well known for his breath and depth of RAID controller knowledge and is a frequent speaker in Compucon seminars.