Computer Science and Engineering

In this paper, we provide a deep dive into the deployment of inference accelerators at Facebook. Many of our ML workloads have unique characteristics, such as sparse memory accesses, large model sizes, as well as high compute, memory and network bandwidth requirements. We co-designed a high-performance, energy-efficient inference accelerator platform based on these requirements. We describe the inference accelerator platform ecosystem we developed and deployed at Facebook: both hardware, through Open Compute Platform (OCP), and software framework and tooling, through Pytorch/Caffe2/Glow. A characteristic of this ecosystem from the start is its openness to enable a variety of AI accelerators from different vendors. This platform, with six low-power accelerator cards alongside a singlesocket host CPU, allows us to serve models of high complexity that cannot be easily or efficiently run on CPUs. We describe various performance optimizations, at both platform and accelerator level, whic...

The momentum created by web services has opened a number of topics that relate to the ability of non-technical people to construct and deploy complex business management software. History has shown that every time a promise of this nature is made that disillusionment sets is before realistic expectations are set. How realistic is the vision of having non-technical people constructing systems, and still having data integrity, performance and usability attributes attended to? Rules of how a business system can be abstracted must be defined in order for development and delivery organizations to operate together in providing software solutions. This paper presents an approach to doing application assembly and deployment by understanding the separate elements from abstract requirements to software implementation. Some of the challenges that exist when trying to implement a systems assembly paradigm are discussed. The separation continuum is presented as a solution to understanding the various elements that make up a business system. It is also used to determine what needs to be included when product lines are assembled using assembly tools using software assets.

How can multiple product lines be integrated across an organization to produce products to market on time? - a question frequently asked by management and product delivery specialists. Once product lines are known, product managers need to allocate features over a period of time to create a delivery oriented competence. The product value chain must be understood to balance resources, features and capitalize on market opportunities. Other questions asked throughout a product development life cycle include: How can product line organizations deliver the required assets to produce the required features in their products? How can the organization capitalize on new trends by re-using existing systems? What are the dependencies amongst product lines and how will they be managed? Product managers are responsible for the product chain and the ultimate delivery of products that can give the organization a competitive edge. The challenges are in the balancing and management of multiple dependent features. This includes the organisational design aspects that need considering. With organizations moving from "product" to "market" focus in their early years the following issues are eminent: products are invented and assets are built that are either not adding value or are too early to be adopted by a potential market. If a market focus exists, the "final product" will only contain the assets (realization of features) that potential customers are willing to pay for in the window or commercialization i.e. "successfully commercialize". Balancing and alignment ensure that the features-just-in-time attribute is managed. This paper presents an approach whereby various product lines can be managed in parallel and is based on Strategic Product Development – A strategic approach to taking software products to market successfully [1], first published at the Software Product Line Conference in Colorado, USA.

A complete framework for building a capable software product development organisation Summary: Software engineering standards focus on the direct delivery of software and often fail to connect with the realities of business. Multitudes of concepts are used in the business world to cover topics such as: learning, decisionmaking, people management, organizational structure design and innovation processes that are not sufficiently covered in the software engineering domain. Furthermore, the differences between process and product innovation are not understood and not managed as separate competencies. This work proposes an integrated framework that can be used by software producing organisations to innovate, build, and deliver software products to market. It deals with the critically interlinked and complex systems required to deal with the aspects of commercial software delivery. The organisational system requires concepts such as process management, learning management, strategic product management and innovation management. The Process Innovation Imperative dependants on the ability of the organization to deal with these principles. This chapter introduces the Strategic Product Development Model, Learning Model and People Maturity Model as tools to use during the evolutionary or revolutionary cycles the organisation will go through in its life cycle. The process innovation imperative focuses on the ability to revolutionize, stabilize and intellectualize the software producing organization.

With business drivers such as innovation and the constant influence of changing requirements, organizations seek ways to increase time-to-market capability, enhance overall productivity  and maintain or improve product quality.  At the same time these organizations strive to leverage legacy investment. Assets unbundled from these legacy systems, acquired through vendors or developed in-house form the building blocks of products that promote consumer trust. The characteristics of quality attributes on different levels of abstraction differ substantially and are influenced not only by technical perspectives, but also business-oriented perspectives. Research on Predictable Assembly of Certifiable Components (PACC) has proved to be an important consideration in enabling trust on higher levels of abstraction. In this paper we consider primary influences in moving towards predictable assembly and define a high-level reasoning framework for predictable assembly of certifiable assets in the construction of the application portfolio.

Summary: Organisations that produce software for commercial consumption face many different challenges in their pursuit of success. Even though many standards are available for use, success is not guaranteed. Standards such as ISO/IEC TR 15504, ISO 9000 and ISO 10006 go a long way towards ensuring success but other key concepts are needed. These standards must not be seen as a damper on innovation, but a guide (base practice) and focus creation mechanism. People build up a perception that when control is put in place, creativity in product delivery is diminished. A framework is needed whereby all aspects of the organisation can function as a system and work in harmony. The organisational system requires concepts such as process, learning, product development and innovation. Process Innovation is dependant on strategic product development concepts whereby all the process and standard elements are controlled. The Learning Model and People Maturity Model are the tools used whereby people evolve with the organisation even when there are revolutionary breakthroughs. This paper proposes a number of changes to the ISO/IEC TR 15504 standard in order for organisations to meet challenging commercial demands.

Software delivery organisations are required to produce commercially viable innovative products in a short space of time. A balance must be created between product innovation and process innovation, when developing software systems, to ensure product commercialisation. While numerous software engineering ‘best practices’ exist, such as ISO/IEC JTC1 Software Engineering Standards, SWEBOK (Software Engineering Body of Knowledge) and SEBOK (Software Engineering Institute), these focus on the direct delivery of software and often fail to connect with the realities of commercial business.
Quality related bodies form a system for worldwide standardisation as a whole and, together with the Software Engineering Institute (IES), Quality Assurance Institute (QAI) and others, have played an important role in providing this balance.
The ISO/IEC TR 15504 framework provides the process practices for software engineering organisations and the measurement criteria to determine process capability, assisting the organisation in planning, managing, monitoring, controlling and improving the acquisition, supply, development, operation, evolution and support of software [ISO/IEC TR 15504-1 1998].
The Process Innovation Imperative [Van Zyl 2001] is an investigation that was the result of thirteen years of research in the software and related industries. This research identified various conceptual models that were used together with the ISO/IEC TR 15504 framework in order to facilitate process innovation. This paper covers work that was performed for the period June 1999 through to March 2001, as part of the Process Improvement Imperative, in the engineering division of a medium sized new generation IT company. The organisation was founded in 1994 and delivers dynamic, component-based applications to customers in the financial services industry that meet their needs in rapidly changing business environments and that are flexible to adapt to changing needs over time.
The purpose of the work reported in this paper, carried out as part of the Product Management Architecture project, was firstly to re-implement and focus product line practices within a software-producing organisation. This was done by implementing the models identified in the Process Innovation Imperative within the framework of ISO/IEC TR 15504; and secondly to record and analyse data in order to derive empirical evidence of improvements within the organisation.
The paper describes the process that was used, and the data collected during this process is used to provide empirical evidence of improvements within the organisation.

This book proposes various conceptual models that can be used to facilitate process innovation. The result of this research is that formal processes, such as those presented in various capability based models, do not dampen innovation, nor slow down creativity, but are incomplete in facilitating innovation to its full potential. The research indicates that product innovation increases when the models presented in this book are used. Process Innovation is the fundamental concept needed to facilitate revolutionary and evolutionary process development breakthroughs in organizations that wish to remain sustainable and competitive.

Built to Thrive is about unpacking the drivers that I have noticed in the landscape that do not yet have a place in our existing vocabulary. It is about ceasing to ignore the signs and beginning to embrace the changes that are becoming more tangible with every day that passes. It is about recognizing the amplified importance of the human as a social being in this dawning age of transparency and systemic activity. The individual becomes the collective as we move into a sphere of shared value-creation, ideation and knowledge dissemination. Existing in this new business landscape is not about eliminating the competition, but rather working together in a bid to share resources and expand far beyond what we could ever hope to achieve as individual organizations. Through Built to Thrive, I hope to open your mind and introduce you to a way of thinking that will fundamentally shift your views, and may provide a lifeline in a world where the new school will rule.

The notion of patterns has been used in many different disciplines, and the software industry is no exception. There are many books written, academic research done and practical examples available of where patterns have assisted in constructing better software solutions. Patterns have been defined in the areas of software design, architectural design, processes, and there are even cognitive patterns to deal with the softer side of software production. But, with the many variations available today, where do you start? This paper presents an architecture that will assist with the use of patterns. Patterns are used as a means to capitalize on previous innovations and learnings. Once patterns are documented and articulated, the implementor gets the benefits by using a structured approach to implement and by using the principles in many domains. The complexities that surround innovations are normally difficult to articulate in traditional means. A learning model is used to assist in the process of pattern identification. Another model, the Y-Model, is used to deal with understanding complexity and abstractiveness in systems. The pattern architecture presented does not regurgitate patterns available already, but focuses on some of the findings in delivering complex, re-usable business components. This means that a number of new patterns, not publicly documented before, are introduced.

A publication by Fraunhofer IESEFraunhofer IESE is an institute of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft. The institute transfers innovative software development techniques, methods and tools into industrial practice, assists companies in building software competencies customized to their needs, and helps them to establish a competetive market position.

Product strategists are faced with difficult, but challenging tasks when it comes to product innovation, concept development and product commercialization. Product innovation must take place in
order to create products and services that potential customers do not yet know they need. Different, but integrated, standards are needed in the pursuit of building capable processes for delivering these products. Strategic Product Development is an approach that uses a number of industry standards in building an organization capable of delivering commercially successful products. This paper presents an overview of the integrated approach that ties many concepts together in assisting the product
development team to deliver world-class software products. Rubico Technologies is used as a case study to show how the concepts were implemented.