The HPC Challenge benchmark suite (HPCC) was released
to analyze the performance of high-performance computing architectures
using several kernels to measure different memory and hardware access
patterns comprising latency based measurements, memory streaming,
inter-process communication and floating point computation. HPCC 
defines a set of benchmarks augmenting the High Performance Linpack used
in the Top500 list. Based on HPCC benchmark results, super-computers are
evaluated. The focus is on the balance between computational speed, 
memory bandwidth, and inter-node communication.
This balance is an important aspect of the programmability of future 
super-computers. Estimates for first PetaFlop/s systems range from 
100,000 to 1,000,000 processors, organized as a cluster of 
SMP nodes. Programmability for a broad range of applications is 
crucial for the success of future super-computers. Hybrid (mixed model) 
MPI & OpenMP programming seems to be determined for such clusters of 
SMP nodes. Unfortunately, hybrid programming shows several drawbacks 
on such super-computing architectures.