The IEEE International Scalable Computing Challenge (SCALE) is sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society’s Technical Committee on Scalable Computing (TCSC). The objective of the SCALE Challenge is to highlight and showcase real-world problem solving using computing that scales. Effective solutions to many scientific and engineering problems require applications that can scale. There are different dimensions to such scalability. For example, applications can scale-up to a large number of cores on a compute unit, scale-out to utilize multiple distinct compute units, exhibit elastic scaling on-demand, based on current need, and/or scale with the data size or rates. The result may be an application that can solve a larger problem, increase throughput, reduce execution time, and/or adapt to dynamic situations. In order to scale, applications need to be supported by algorithms, tools, middleware, software platforms, programming frameworks, computing cyberinfrastructure, etc. The applications may be data or compute intensive. The computing infrastructure may span HPC, accelerators and commodity clusters, or cloud and edge computing. The SCALE Challenge is concerned with novel advances in such enabling technology that facilitate practical applications that scale.

The IEEE International Scalable Computing Challenge (SCALE) is sponsored by the IEEE Computer Society’s Technical Committee on Scalable Computing (TCSC). The objective of the SCALE Challenge is to highlight and showcase real-world problem solving using computing that scales. Effective solutions to many scientific and engineering problems require applications that can scale. There are different dimensions to such scalability. For example, applications can scale-up to a large number of cores on a compute unit, scale-out to utilize multiple distinct compute units, exhibit elastic scaling on-demand, based on current need, and/or scale with the data size or rates. The result may be an application that can solve a larger problem, increase throughput, reduce execution time, and/or adapt to dynamic situations. In order to scale, applications need to be supported by algorithms, tools, middleware, software platforms, programming frameworks, computing cyberinfrastructure, etc. The applications may be data or compute intensive. The computing infrastructure may span HPC, accelerators and commodity clusters, or cloud and edge computing. The SCALE Challenge is concerned with novel advances in such enabling technology that facilitate practical applications that scale.

Call for White Papers

• An overview of the problem being solved and the techniques employed
• The application scenario, its scaling requirements and its social/scientific impact
• Performance metrics (number of cores, computational throughput, elasticity, data sizes, transaction/stream rates, I/O bandwidth, latency, etc.), supporting data, and a qualitative description of how the application scales – scale-up, scale-out, elasticity, or any other type of scaling.
• The proposed solution – design, computing, data and software platforms, scalability concepts and technologies used, highlighting the innovative aspects of the solution
• Impact of the solution, including preliminary results, its extensibility, the uniqueness of the solutions and the results, and how it pushes the envelope in scalable computing
• Proposed plan for the live demonstration if the paper is shortlisted for presentation. At least a small scale version of the application scaling must be demonstrated live.
• Contrast of the solution and technology employed with related approaches

Papers will be short-listed by a technical committee using the above criteria. Up to 5 papers will be invited to compete in a final round at CCGrid 2021. At least one member from each selected team must register, present in person and demonstrate their project at CCGrid 2021. Participation from students, early-career researchers, and representatives of groups underrepresented in science, especially in leadership roles, is strongly encouraged.

Submissions of SCALE 2021 proposals should be directly emailed to the chairs.

All papers short-listed for presentation at the SCALE challenge by the technical committee will be submitted to IEEE Xplore for publication and EI indexing.

Format and Awards

The technical committee will review and select finalists from the submitted proposals. Short-listed proposals will present their work and show a live demonstration of the scalability of their system and/or software solution in-person at the CCGrid 2021 conference. The judges will select a first prize winner at the conference based on the presentation, novelty, technical soundness, impact, demonstration, and their ability to answer questions. The proposals of the finalists will also appear in the proceedings of the CCGrid 2021 Conference.

A cash prize and a certificate of commendation will be awarded to the first place (US$1000) and second place (US$500) winners, sponsored by TCSC, based on the above criteria. Winners will need to complete financial forms required by IEEE Computer Society to be given the cash award.

Important Dates

Chairs

Yogesh Simmhan, Indian Institute of Science, India (simmhan@iisc.ac.in)
Ivan Rodero, The State University of New Jersey, USA (irodero@rutgers.edu )

Technical Committee

To be announced...