Expanding the Numerical Functions Available to MATLAB® and Python Users
Numerical Algorithms Group (NAG) and Interactive Supercomputing (ISC) have teamed to deliver breakthrough productivity in programming parallel systems, clusters, and grids. NAG specializes in creating software libraries for solving mathematical, statistical and data mining problems.

Using the Star-P platform, NAG users and MATLAB® users looking to solve ever larger problems can leverage the quality and accuracy of the NAG libraries in a parallel computing environment. Now scientists, engineers and analysts can:

• Connect the NAG libraries to the Star-P parallel platform
• Access the libraries directly from within MATLAB®, Python, R and other desktop tools
• Solve problems too large and complex for a PC workstation
• Save development time and accelerate computations

Accessing NAG Libraries using Star-P Connect
Star-P Connect is a powerful API/SDK tool designed to connect MATLAB® and other very high level languages (VHLLs) to powerful commercial libraries such as the NAG C and Fortran libraries. Star-P Connect includes an Invocation API for the MATLAB® programmer and a Server API for a C, C++ or FORTRAN programmer. The Server API consists of a Data-Parallel component for adding and using MPI based functions such as those found in the NAG Parallel Library, and an equivalent Task-Parallel component for interfacing with serial or multi-threaded libraries such as those found in the NAG SMP library.

Adding a NAG Library Function in 4 Easy Steps
Using Star-P Connect, a MATLAB® user can easily access NAG computing functions for both task-parallel and data-parallel computing by following a simple four-step process.

1. First, a Star-P Connect module or "wrapper" is created to register the new add-on function(s) with Star-P and to assure syntax matching.
2. Next, the Star-P Connect module is compiled and converted to a shared object form, making it available from within the Star-P + MATLAB® environment.
3. Then the module is loaded into the Star-P + MATLAB® environment.
4. After the module has been loaded, the user can access the NAG library function using the appropriate Star-P compute commands to trigger the computation.

Example: 1-D FFT of 4 GB Matrix
A good example of the power of using Star-P to connect MATLAB® to powerful NAG functions is the Fast Fourier transform (FFT) of a 4 GB matrix. As seen from this example, users can expect a nearly linear reduction in processing time for a given number of processors.

For More Information:
• www.interactivesupercomputing.com/partners/nagsolutions.php
• www.nag.com