Hartwig Anzt - Towards a modular precision ecosystem

Over the last years, we have observed a growing mismatch  between the arithmetic performance of processors in terms of the  number of floating point operations per second (FLOPS) on the one side, and the memory performance in terms of how fast data can be brought into the computational elements (memory bandwidth) on the other side. As a result, more and more applications can utilize only a fraction of the available compute power as they are waiting for the required data. With memory operations being the primary energy consumer, data access is pivotal also in the resource balance and the battery life of mobile devices.  In this I will introduce a disruptive paradigm change with respect to how scientific data is stored and processed in computing applications. The goal is to 1) radically decouple the data storage format from the processing format; 2) design a "modular precision ecosystem'' that allows for more flexibility in terms of customized data access; 3) develop algorithms and applications that dynamically adapt data access accuracy to the numerical requirements.