Peter Hofstee

Peter Hofstee
Peter Hofstee (October 2014) Peter Hofstee (October 2014)
Born	Netherlands
Alma mater	University of Groningen Caltech
Thesis	Synchronizing processes (1995)
Doctoral advisor	Jan L. A. van de Snepscheut K. Mani Chandy

Harm Peter Hofstee was born in the Netherlands and received his Doctorandus in theoretical physics from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands, in 1988. In 1994 he earned his PhD from California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Peter is currently a distinguished research staff member at the IBM Austin Research Laboratory, USA, and a part-time professor in Big Data Systems at Delft University of Technology, Netherlands.

Peter is best known for his contributions to Heterogeneous computing as the chief architect of the Synergistic Processor Elements in the Cell Broadband Engine processor used in the Sony Playstation3, and the first supercomputer to reach sustained Petaflop operation. After returning to IBM research in 2011 he has focused on optimizing the system roadmap for big data, analytics, and cloud, including the use of accelerated compute. His early research work on coherently attached reconfigurable acceleration on POWER7 paved the way for the new coherent attach processor interface on POWER8. Peter is an IBM Master Inventor with more than 100 issued patents and a member of the IBM Academy of Technology.

Background

Peter Hofstee was born in 1962 in Groningen. He obtained his master degree in theoretical physics of the Rijks Universiteit Groningen in 1988, after which he continued his studies at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena. He completed his thesis in Caltech in 1991 with the title: Constructing Some Distributed Programs. Continuing his PhD at Caltech, he obtained his Dr. title in 1995 with thesis titled: Synchronizing Processes. Meanwhile, Peter was already enjoying teaching as a teaching assistant both in Groningen and at Caltech.

Career

Following his PhD, Peter joined Caltech as a lecturer for two years and moved to IBM in the Austin, Texas, Research Laboratory, where he had staff member, senior technical staff member and distinguished engineer positions.

Previous Positions

• 1994 - 1996

Lecturer (Member of the Faculty) at California Institute of Technology, Computer Science Department

• 1996 - 2001

Research Staff Member at IBM Austin Research Laboratory

• 2001 - 2006

Senior Technical Staff Member, Cell SPE Chief Architect at IBM Microelectronics Division / IBM Systems and Technology Group

• 2006 - 2010

Distinguished Engineer, Cell/B.E. Chief Scientist at IBM Systems and Technology Group

Current positions

• 2010–Present

Distinguished Research Staff Member, Workload-Optimized and Hybrid Systems at IBM Austin Research Laboratory

• 2014–Present (part time)

Professor, Big Data Systems at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands

Since 2011, Peter is leading the Big Data system design work at IBM. In March 2016, Peter was appointed as professor to the chair of Big Data Computer Systems at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science at Delft University of Technology.

Awards

• IBM Corporate Award

For Cell Broadband Engine, 2006

• IBM Research Division Group Award

For Zebra/Ivy Grant Program Initiation, Jan. 2004 ( precursor to Roadrunner )

• IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement Award

In appreciation for the world's first 1-GHz PowerPC Microprocessor, Feb. 1998

• 20th Annual Award for Excellence in Teaching,

The Associated Students of the California Institute of Technology, 1995-96

• Two IBM Graduate Fellowships (while at California Institute of Technology)

1991-1993

Memberships/Honors

IBM Master Inventor

Member, IBM Academy of Technology

Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and Association for Computing Machinery