IndySCC

The IndySCC is a virtual companion competition where teams use cloud resources to compete and shares many of the same goals as the SCC. Unlike the SCC, teams are not required to partner with a vendor, build their own cluster, and bring that hardware to the SC conference. If selected to participate in the IndySCC,  Teams will have the opportunity to attend SC in person and participate in the broader conference. Conference attendance is not required to participate in the IndySCC.

Teams applying to the SCC may indicate they would like to be considered for IndySCC if they are not selected to the SCC. Teams who do not indicate interest in the IndySCC will not be considered if not selected for the SCC. Indicating you would like to be considered for the IndySCC is not a guarantee to be selected for the competition.

Teams may also apply directly to the IndySCC, without being considered for the SCC. This serves as a lower bar for entry for teams that may not have existing strong vendor relationships or sufficient funding to travel to the conference or who are looking to gain a footing in the cluster competition world before applying to the SCC. The goal for teams participating in the IndySCC is they will be able to travel to the conference and compete in the SCC in a later year.

The IndySCC is intended for less experienced teams, and final selections will be made considering the strength of the application, motivations as they relate to the goals of IndySCC, and the team’s level of experience with prior cluster competitions.

Selected teams are invited to participate in a remote competition from late summer to November:

• Phase 1/Late Summer: Familiarizing with the provided resources and learning about the virtual platform
• Phase 2/August: Learn how to run and optimize industry-standard benchmarks and the provided architecture
• Phase 3/September & October: Real-world applications, the science behind them, and optimizing them for performance
• Phase 4/November: A 48-hour contest similar to and held concurrently with the SCC

Students, with the guidance of their advisor, will craft a proposal that describes their team, their approach to the competition, and what they hope to get out of the experience. This proposal is submitted as a team application for review by the SCC committee.

Further guidance will be provided at a later date.

All teams will be provided remote or cloud-based HPC resources and guidance on accessing the resources. Continuous support is provided by HPC experts in the months leading up to the competition. Webinars are recorded for the virtual platform, the benchmarks, and the two applications. At the end of each phase, teams will turn in a report and receive feedback from the experts.

Participants are encouraged to source travel support from their local institution and supporters to attend the conference in person. Reduced rate in-person and Digital Experience registration is available for IndySCC student participants.

The competition begins with a benchmarking period on Monday, prior to the 48-hour competition. Teams will run industry standard benchmarks on their systems in an attempt to get the best score.