High-performance computing (HPC)

High-performance computing (HPC) is the use of parallel processing for running advanced application programs efficiently, reliably and quickly. The term applies especially to systems that function above a teraflop or 10¹² floating-point operations per second. The term HPC is occasionally used as a synonym for supercomputing, although

technically a supercomputer is a system that performs at or near the currently highest operational rate for computers. Some supercomputers work at more than a petaflop or 10¹⁵ floating-point operations per second.

The most common users of HPC systems are scientific researchers, engineers and academic institutions. Some government agencies, particularly the military, also rely on HPC for complex applications. High-performance systems often use custom-made components in addition to so-called commodity components. As demand for processing power and speed grows, HPC will likely interest businesses of all sizes, particularly for transaction processing and data warehouses. An occasional techno-fiends might use an HPC system to satisfy an exceptional desire for advanced technology.

The term High Performance Computing (HPC) was originally used to describe powerful, number crunching supercomputers. As the range of applications for HPC has grown, however, the definition has evolved to include systems with any combination of accelerated computing capacity, superior data throughput, and the ability to aggregate substantial distributed computing power. 

The architectures of HPC systems have also evolved over time, as illustrated in Figure 1. Ten years ago, symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) and massively parallel processing (MPP) systems were the most common architectures for high performance computing.  More recently, however, the popularity of these architectures has decreased with the emergence of a more costeffective approach: cluster computing. According to the Top500 Supercomputer Sites project, the cluster architecture is now the most commonly used by the world’s highest performing computer systems.

 Figure 1.  The history of HPC architectures shows a shift toward cluster computing.
Source: Top500.org

Bibliography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-performance_computing
http://www.xtremedatainc.com/pdf/FPGA_Acceleration_in_HPC.pdf
http://hpc.fs.uni-lj.si/sites/default/files/HPC_for_dummies.pdf