The MicroPod is a turnkey open source parallel computer software and documentation with applied super computer techniques. Makes getting started with parallel computing easy. It is “crowd funded” via a Kickstarter project. Ability to construct a parallel processing computer using commodity parts, as virtual machines, or using cloud services. Use this for fun projects, to learn parallel programming, or super computer design and administration. Everything specific to the MicroPod HPC will be released under GPL.

1. MicroPod HPC:
Your personal parallel computer
Josh Judd, CTO
Q1-2013
© 2013 WARP Mechanics Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

2. Agenda
• What solutions are we trying to provide to the world?
• What is a super computer?
• What is a MicroPod HPC?
• Why would somebody want one at home?
• Why is this a good idea socially?
• Why is WARP Mechanics the right firm to do this?
• What can I do to help?
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© 2013 WARP Mechanics Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Slide 2

3. What problems are we trying to solve for the
world?
Problem Statement:
• Most scientific progress today requires using super computers
• There aren’t enough computer professionals skilled in this area
• This limits the number of super computers that can be built
MicroPod HPC Solution:
• Turnkey downloadable images of all parallel computer elements
• Turn commodity hardware into a parallel computer, or run as VMs
• Train the next generation of parallel computer designers and
operators
• Free, and good for the world... But it must be funded to get the
Page software and documentation built
© 2013 WARP Mechanics Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Slide 3

4. What is a “super” computer?
• No specific size or speed makes a system "super”
• Networked cluster of systems with software that can spread
complicated calculations across many full-scale computers
Not just a “chip with more cores”
This method will always be 1000s or more times more powerful than any single
computer
Also called “parallel” computers, or “High Performance Computers” (HPC)
• This computer science technique can be applied in different scales
to suit different budgets and computational power requirements
• It is the technique of clustering and distributing load that is the heart
of a true parallel super computer
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© 2013 WARP Mechanics Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Slide 4

5. What is a “MicroPod HPC”?
• Turnkey open source parallel computer software and documentation
with applied super computer techniques
• Makes it easy to get started with parallel computing
• “Crowd funded” via a Kickstarter project
• Construct a parallel processing computer using commodity parts, as
virtual machines, or using cloud services
• Use this for fun projects, to learn parallel programming, or super
computer design and administration
• Everything specific to the MicroPod HPC will be released under
GPL
Page
© 2013 WARP Mechanics Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Slide 5

6. Why would you want a personal super computer?
Up to your creativity! Some ideas to get started:
• Learn to program, deploy, and administer parallel systems
• Run existing parallel software at a smaller scale – and smaller
budget
• Develop parallel applications for commercial use
• Ray tracing or special effects rendering farm
• Host your own multiplayer online game
• Bitcoin harvesting
• Video repository or torrent cluster
• Create your own analytics system to examine social media feeds
Page • Running your own super computer is FUN!!!
© 2013 WARP Mechanics Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Slide 6

7. Why is this socially relevant?
• Super computers are used for all major scientific/engineering work
today:
– Simulating aircraft designs to reduce plane crashes
– Creating more accurate climate change forecasts
– Predict likely results of economic models before testing them in the real
economy
– Research into all forms of medicine and health care treatment
– Developing new green energy systems e.g. hydrogen fusion power plants
– The list of disciplines that use super computers is basically endless
• Society lacks HPC experts: there aren't enough
programmers, engineers, administrators, or architects to build the
computers to meet the demand
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• Proliferating HPC knowledge will ensure that hyper-scale
© 2013 WARP Mechanics Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Slide 7

8. Why is WARP Mechanics the right firm to do this?
• WARP Mechanics’ mission is to bring super computing technologies
into broader IT markets. The MicroPod is an on-target example of
that.
• Years of experience building HPC systems
• Developed the "PetaPod HPC" system in partnership with Hyve
Solutions
– The MicroPod is a scaling down of that already-established architecture
• It will take considerable staff time to port this solution to VMs and
commodity hardware, but the project is well within WARP
Mechanics’ expertise
• WARP Mechanics personnel like working on HPC systems. We
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don't do this because we have to. 8We do it because we are true
© 2013 WARP Mechanics Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Slide

9. What can I do to help?
If you believe that accelerating scientific progress is a worthy
goal, and that expanding the HPC talent pool with help with that, then:
• Buy a T-Shirt or two to support the Kickstarter project
http://tiny-url.org/micropod
• Promote the open source project page so we can build a community
of interested nerds, to run MicroPods once the project is complete:
http://www.micropodhpc.com
• Important! Forward those links to your nerdy or socially-conscious
friends
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© 2013 WARP Mechanics Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Slide 9