Topics including (but not limited to)....

  • Rising power needs

  •  

    Advanced cooling

  •  

     

     

     

       Latest & Greatest New Tech

  • How compute is used

  • Efficient computing & explaining stuff

  •   We argue about it all!

Radio Free HPC (RFHPC) started in 2012 and, after a short break of 193 months, has returned to the airwaves (cyber waves?) with co-hosts Dan Olds, Henry Newman, and Shahin Khan.

The podcast covers a wide range of topics but is particularly focused on data center technology and challenges. These include high performance computing, power and cooling, new technology, and, really, whatever the hell they want to talk about.

 

Quick FAQ


"Why are you just covering HPC? There's this new thing called AI, have you heard of it?"

Yeah, we've heard of it and we do cover it. To us, HPC is a broad term used to refer to a very broad group of apps/workloads that have common characteristics.

  1. They are computationally intense
  2. Time to solution and quality of solution are critical
  3. The output is important enough to justify investment in high-end clusters and associated hardware/software

AI meets all of the criteria above just like bioscience, aerospace, weather prediction, and several other domains. In fact, AI is or will soon be folded into the workflows of nearly every 'traditional' HPC and enterprise application over time. This is going to put a lot of pressure on data centers and we'll be talking about how to deal with it.

 

"Was the old version of Radio Free HPC popular? I've never heard of it..."

Yes, it rose from obscurity to being mildly popular and, at times, entertaining. At our peak, we had as many as 16 sustained listeners and as many as 19 theoretical max listeners.

 

"I listened to the old show a couple of times and liked the arguing. Will there be more of that in this reboot?"

Yes, in fact we expect as much as 29% more arguing and a significant increase in the number of personal insults per episode.

 

"How often will this thing come out and how do I find out about it?"

We used to try to do weekly shows but failed due to other commitments, travel, etc. And there were just weeks when nothing important happened. But to answer your question, could be every couple of weeks, could be once a month, or we could record a marathon 8-10 hour single episode. Depends on what's happening and our mood.

We're getting together our RSS feeds and such but in the short term we'll be publicizing the episodes through the RFHPC X account and our individual social media accounts.

 

Ok, enough questions. If you want to learn more about the show and hosts, check out the "About" page.

Here are our most recent episodes along with the 345 or so previous editions, enjoy!

 

 

 

Latest Episode

  • Episode 190: Looking at the Coral-2 RFP for Exascale Supercomputers

    By admin | April 23, 2018 |

    In this podcast, the Radio Free HPC team looks at the new Department of Energy’s RFP for Exascale Computers.
    Called CORAL-2, this Request for Proposal is for up to $1.8 billion and is completely separate from the $320 million allocated for the Exascale Computing Project in the FY 2018 budget. Those funds are mostly focused at application development and software technology for an exascale software stack.

    These new systems represent the next generation in supercomputing and will be critical tools both for our nation’s scientists and for U.S. industry,” Secretary Perry said.  “They will help ensure America’s continued leadership in the vital area of high performance computing, which is an essential element of our national security, prosperity, and competitiveness as a nation.”

    The RFP is issued under the CORAL umbrella (Collaboration of Oak Ridge, Argonne, and Livermore). CORAL1 has already procured the following systems:

    • Aurora at Argonne National Lab (target completion date in 2021)
    • Summit at ORNL (2018 to 2023 timeframe)
    • Sierra at LLNL (2018 to 2023 timeframe)

    This RFP (CORAL2) is designed to get bids from vendors to build two and (potentially) three new exascale supercomputers. Each system is expected to cost between $400 – $600 million.

    The new RFP calls for systems to be housed at:

    • One will be at ORNL
    • One at LLNL
    • A possible third system at Argonne

    Specifications:

    • According to the RFP, baseline performance for each system should be at least 1300 Petaflops/sec.
    • Power budget will go up to 60 Megawatts. Preferred power consumption for the system is 20-40 Megawatts.
    • MTBF is requested to somewhere around 6 Days

    As far as predictions go, Dan thinks one machine will go to IBM and the other will go to Intel. Rich thinks HPE will win one of the bids with an ARM-based system designed around The Machine memory-centric architecture. They have a wager, so listen in to find out where the smart money is.

    Download the MP3 * Subscribe on iTunes * RSS Feed

Recent Episodes

  • Whales: Giants of the Ocean

    September 27, 2026

    Whales: Giants of the Ocean Whales are among the largest and most remarkable animals on Earth. These marine mammals live in oceans around the world, from warm tropical waters to…

  • Episode 402: AI Doomsday? Rogue Agents and more.

    September 21, 2026

    Dan, Henry, and Shaheen unpack an Anthropic engineer’s resignation letter claiming many insiders think AI could wipe out humanity by 2030. They debate whether that’s sincere fear, a regulation play…

  • Episode 401: NOAA Goes Cloudy, Big Time

    August 17, 2026

    Episode 401: NOAA Goes Cloudy, Memory Gets Pricey, and Someone Might Have Hooked an Alligator We’re two episodes into the reboot and the band is still back together-Shahin in the…

  • Episode 400: We’ve Re-Booted The Show

    August 2, 2026

    After 193 months off the air, Radio Free HPC is back. Dan, Shahin, and Henry return with the same arguments, the same opinions, and a slightly more irregular schedule. Also:…

  • La variété des fournisseurs de jeux sur Cazeus Casino

    August 1, 2026

    Le Cazeus Casino se distingue sur le marché des jeux en ligne par la diversité impressionnante de ses fournisseurs de jeux. Cette plateforme offre à ses utilisateurs une variété de…

  • Crown Play Casino et l’art de la satisfaction client

    July 31, 2026

    Crown Play Casino se distingue dans l’univers du jeu en ligne par son engagement envers la satisfaction client. Cette plateforme, accessible via https://crownplay-fra.com, s’efforce d’offrir une expérience de jeu complète…

  • Comment fonctionne le cashback chez Highflybet Casino ?

    July 30, 2026

    Le cashback est un atout majeur pour les joueurs chez casinoshighflybet.com, attirant un public varié grâce à sa proposition de valeur intéressante. Ce système de remboursement attire de plus en…

  • Les impacts des promotions sur l’expérience à Brutal Casino

    July 30, 2026

    Brutal Casino se démarque sur le marché des jeux en ligne grâce à une offre captivante et une diversité impressionnante de promotions. Les joueurs constatent que ces promotions ont un…

  • Pourquoi les joueurs adorent Ivybet Casino en 2023 ?

    July 26, 2026

    En 2023, ivybet est devenu un choix privilégié parmi les joueurs en ligne, offrant une expérience de jeu immersive et des fonctionnalités qui répondent aux besoins des amateurs de casino.…