In my continuing effort to provide the most comprehensive coverage of the upcoming SC11 Student Cluster Competition, I spent a few minutes on the phone with Jason Kilmer, a member of the 2010 University of Texas team. The Longhorns were the first team (among three) to break the Teraflop barrier and also notched the highest LINPACK score – but were ultimately whipped by Taiwan for the overall crown. (There still isn’t an actual SCC crown, although I’m working on one.) Our conversation is here on The Register.

We talked about the process of getting ready to compete and some of the ins and outs of SCC success. Jason reveals how Team Texas was able to deploy an extra half node, giving them about 10 per cent more capacity than anticipated, because they took their time and followed the procedures they had laid out ahead of time. It’s a good tip that every team can use, and one that might pay off in a big way.

He also discussed the simple technique that Team Taiwan used to leap ahead of the field on the password cracking challenge. He felt personally responsible for missing this particular move – a real head-smacking moment. But, to be fair, everyone else (except the Taiwanese) missed it too.