Gelato Federation
Encyclopedia
The Gelato Federation is a "global technical community dedicated to advancing Linux
on the Intel Itanium
platform through collaboration, education, and leadership." Formed in 2001, membership includes more than seventy academic and research organizations around the world, including several that operate Itanium-based supercomputer
s on the Top500
list. The organization is active in projects to enhance the Linux kernel for Itanium and GCC
for Itanium. The organization took its name from the Italian dessert Gelato
. The organization pays homage to this by naming sub-projects (Gelato Vanilla, Gelato Coconut) for varieties of the dessert.
. The institutions were the Bioinformatics Institute, Singapore; Groupe ESIEE
, France; Hewlett-Packard Company; National Center for Supercomputing Applications
, USA; Tsinghua University
, China; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
, USA; University of New South Wales, Australia; and University of Waterloo, Canada. These were the founding members of Gelato.
Representatives from these organizations met twice a year. The first few meetings (in Palo Alto, California
2001 and Paris
2002) were primarily a "strategy council meeting" where the by-laws and charter were hammered out.
The Sydney
meeting in October 2002 was the first that included a day of technical presentations. These became a regular feature of the meetings, now expanded to conferences, and thus the two conferences each year are entirely composed of technical presentations by vendors and members.
(who contributed to the Itanium math libraries and floating point unit), Brian Lynn (the original HP representative), David Mosberger-Tang (original porter of Linux to IA-64) and Jean-Pol Taffin (ex-general secretary of ESIEE, and very influential in the early days of Gelato).
Institutional members can be sponsored by an IA-64 vendor, or can come in on their own. Sponsored members typically will have some particular projects in mind.
in October 2007.
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
on the Intel Itanium
Itanium
Itanium is a family of 64-bit Intel microprocessors that implement the Intel Itanium architecture . Intel markets the processors for enterprise servers and high-performance computing systems...
platform through collaboration, education, and leadership." Formed in 2001, membership includes more than seventy academic and research organizations around the world, including several that operate Itanium-based supercomputer
Supercomputer
A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation.Supercomputers are used for highly calculation-intensive tasks such as problems including quantum physics, weather forecasting, climate research, molecular modeling A supercomputer is a...
s on the Top500
TOP500
The TOP500 project ranks and details the 500 most powerful known computer systems in the world. The project was started in 1993 and publishes an updated list of the supercomputers twice a year...
list. The organization is active in projects to enhance the Linux kernel for Itanium and GCC
GNU Compiler Collection
The GNU Compiler Collection is a compiler system produced by the GNU Project supporting various programming languages. GCC is a key component of the GNU toolchain...
for Itanium. The organization took its name from the Italian dessert Gelato
Gelato
Gelato is the italian word for ice cream and sorbet. Italians use the word gelato to mean a sweet treat that is served frozen. Indeed, gelato, just like ice cream, is made with Milk, cream, various sugars, flavoring including fresh fruit and nut purees....
. The organization pays homage to this by naming sub-projects (Gelato Vanilla, Gelato Coconut) for varieties of the dessert.
History
In late 2001, representatives from seven organizations met with Hewlett-PackardHewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
. The institutions were the Bioinformatics Institute, Singapore; Groupe ESIEE
École Supérieure d'Ingénieurs en Électronique et Électrotechnique
ESIEE, , are two French Graduate Schools of Engineering located in Marne-la-Vallée and Amiens delivering the equivalent of a Master's Degree.-General information:It was founded in 1904 and was known until the 1960s as the Breguet school...
, France; Hewlett-Packard Company; National Center for Supercomputing Applications
National Center for Supercomputing Applications
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications is an American state-federal partnership to develop and deploy national-scale cyberinfrastructure that advances science and engineering. NCSA operates as a unit of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign but it provides high-performance...
, USA; Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University , colloquially known in Chinese as Qinghua, is a university in Beijing, China. The school is one of the nine universities of the C9 League. It was established in 1911 under the name "Tsinghua Xuetang" or "Tsinghua College" and was renamed the "Tsinghua School" one year later...
, China; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
, USA; University of New South Wales, Australia; and University of Waterloo, Canada. These were the founding members of Gelato.
Representatives from these organizations met twice a year. The first few meetings (in Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
2001 and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
2002) were primarily a "strategy council meeting" where the by-laws and charter were hammered out.
The Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
meeting in October 2002 was the first that included a day of technical presentations. These became a regular feature of the meetings, now expanded to conferences, and thus the two conferences each year are entirely composed of technical presentations by vendors and members.
Membership
The federation has grown markedly since its inception. As of April 2007, there were more than 70 members and sponsors around the world. Members are institutions, but there are a few individuals who, because of their contribution to IA-64 on Linux or to Gelato, have been made Honorary Members. These include Clemens C. J. RoothaanClemens C. J. Roothaan
Clemens C.J. Roothaan was born in 1918 in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. He enrolled TU Delft in 1935 to study electrical engineering. During World War II he was first detained as a prisoner of war camp, later he was sent for a year to a concentration camp in Vught...
(who contributed to the Itanium math libraries and floating point unit), Brian Lynn (the original HP representative), David Mosberger-Tang (original porter of Linux to IA-64) and Jean-Pol Taffin (ex-general secretary of ESIEE, and very influential in the early days of Gelato).
Institutional members can be sponsored by an IA-64 vendor, or can come in on their own. Sponsored members typically will have some particular projects in mind.
Conferences
The Gelato ICE: Itanium Conference & Expo alternate between San Jose, California, and somewhere else in the world, often in South-East Asia or Europe. Gelato conferences are where most of the collaboration and cooperation between members is established, and where Intel reveals some of their future strategy for the Itanium-based platform. The last conference was held in SingaporeSingapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
in October 2007.
Other activities
Apart from the Members' activities, Gelato funds a Central Operations (hosted at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). Central Operations, in addition to running the twice-a-year meetings, tries to coordinate and manage a number of projects. These include:- Gelato GCC on Itanium Workgroup, a group of members and sponsors of the Gelato Federation and the GCC community interested in improving GCC (the GNU Compiler CollectionGNU Compiler CollectionThe GNU Compiler Collection is a compiler system produced by the GNU Project supporting various programming languages. GCC is a key component of the GNU toolchain...
) on Itanium processors. - Vanilla, a concerted effort to port and tune software for Itanium. In addition to the actual tuned binaries, the tuning process is documented.
- Coconut, a system of access to Itanium machines for members.
- The Gelato System Grant program, which provides Itanium systems for members.
External links
- Gelato Federation Web site
- Technical Mailing Lists
- Event Mailing List
- Gelato ICE: Itanium Conference & Expo information