Limits of Parallel/Distributed Computing


Prof. Erik Dirkx
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

Tuesday, November 8, 2005
1:00PM-2:00PM California Time
4:00PM-5:00PM New York Time
9:00PM-10:00PM UK Time
10:00PM-11:00PM Central Europe Time
11:00PM-12:00AM Eastern Europe Time
6:00AM-7:00AM Tokyo Time, November 9
7:30AM-8:30AM Adelaide/Australia Time, November 9
8:00AM-9:00AM Melbourne/Australia Time, November 9

Whereas parallel and distributed computing has always been used in the scientific community for decades, it is only recently being "discovered" by the general public. The near end of Moore's law, market economics, a critical mass in certain key markets and the diffusion of computer technology in situations where human lives are at stake are all catalysts in this phenomenon. A normal question that a scientist then wonders about : is there a (fundamental) limit ? If it is there, one should try to "prove" it. In this presentation, which also marks my personal restart in the WG10.3 community, I will try to show where this limit is, how it can also be found in nature in another context, and I will try to derive strategies to use once the limit is encountered.

Slides (PowerPoint, 0.8MB)