A high-performance computing system is not created by accident, but by the careful design and implementation of interactions between Compilers, Hardware Architectures, and Operating Systems. The University of Kentucky's KAOS group works to create, demonstrate, and disseminate technologies that can improve performance or provide new capabilities by integrating different aspects of computer system design. This systems research is not limited to systems hardware and software, but also includes working with application developer collaborators to port, tune, and enhance their codes.
Software is a key part of any computer system. The primary focus of the KAOS Software Development lab is to invent, create, and maintain the system software that will allow higher performance to be achieved. The goal is not just to build fragile prototypes, but to devise robust mechanisms that can result in useful software distributions. This research work includes support for custom hardware (developed in the Hardware Development & Maintenance Facility), operating system extensions, compiler technology, middleware, and application libraries. Not only does this laboratory offer workstations with access to the supercomputers in the Supercomputer Machine Room, but is also provides access to the workstation hardware and one or more "safe playground" clusters constructed specially for software testing.
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