Initial results of the Scientific Computing World (SCW) HPC readership survey have shown training and support for HPC resources are the number one concern for both those that operate and manage HPC facilities and researchers using HPC resources.
The survey has now been live for a week and early results are already presenting new topics which will highlight the greatest challenges to supporting and using HPC.
Several themes have emerged as a priority to both HPC managers and users/researchers. Respondents cite that training and support are essential parameters compared to performance, hardware or the availability of HPC resources.
HPC operators’ and managers’ top concerns are training, application performance and seeking investment for further upgrades and development. One thing that stood out among the responses was not a desire to attain performance or new hardware but a focus on maintenance, uptime, efficient use of resources, data preservation.
These participants also identified challenges such as training, staff management, skills retention and support for personnel as top priorities or crucial HPC management issues.
On the other side of the ecosystem, researchers and HPC users are primarily concerned with support for their application and training to better use resources. Users also highlighted several aspects of using an HPC facility as essential to their work. This list can be split into two groups: the first covers uptime, availability and access to HPC resources while the second is focused on documentation, support, and training.
The survey is still available and SCW encourages anyone who uses, operates or manages HPC resources to take part.
