IPDPS 2019 Technical Program
2019
In 2001, as early high-speed networks were deployed, George Gilder observed that "when the network is as fast as the computer's internal links, the machine disintegrates across the net into a set of special purpose appliances."Two decades later, our networks are 1,000 times faster, our appliances are increasingly specialized, and our computer systems are indeed disintegrating.As hardware acceleration overcomes speed-of-light delays, time and space merge into a computing continuum.Familiar questions like "where should I compute," "for what workloads should I design computers," and "where should I place my computers" seem to allow for a myriad of new answers that are exhilarating but also daunting.Are there concepts that can help guide us as we design applications and computer systems in a world that is untethered from familiar landmarks like center, cloud, edge?I propose some ideas and report on experiments in coding the continuum.