Sparse Matrix-Vector multiplication (SpMV) is an essential kernel for parallel numerical applications. SpMV displays sparse and irregular data accesses, which complicate its vectorization. Such difficulties make SpMV to frequently experiment non-optimal results when run on long vector ISAs exploiting SIMD parallelism. In this context, the development of new optimizations becomes fundamental to enable high performance SpMV executions on emerging long vector architectures. In this paper, we improve the state-of-the-art SELL-C-σ sparse matrix format by proposing several new optimizations for SpMV. We target aggressive long vector architectures like the NEC Vector Engine. By combining several optimizations, we obtain an average 12% improvement over SELL-C-σ considering a heterogeneous set of 24 matrices. Our optimizations boost performance in long vector architectures since they expose a high degree of SIMD parallelism.

Abstract In today's Grids, files are usually managed by Grid data management systems that are superimposed on existing file and storage systems. In this paper, we analyze this predominant approach and argue that object‐based file systems can be an alternative when adapted to the characteristics of a Grid environment. We describe how we are solving the challenge of extending the object‐based storage architecture for the Grid in XtreemFS, an object‐based file system for federated infrastructures. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.