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December
2002
HPC Times
In this issue: ·
Letter
from the Chairperson ·
Microway
and Platform Computing Expand Relationship to Deliver Comprehensive
Clustering and Grid Solutions
·
You Can Count on It by Stephen
Fried, CTO and President: ·
New
Column: Tech Notes ·
Commercial
Compiler Options for Clusters ·
Customizing
Your Cluster News
From Microway
As 2002 draws to a close, we look
back on an industry that started the year with lingering uncertainty. By
November, we saw record attendance at SC2002 in Baltimore. Microway is proud
of our accomplishments and activities during the year. We served over 200
customers with cluster solutions and installations, continuing our reputation
as a solid provider to the HPC market for our twentieth year. Here are just a
few of our accomplishments.
I want to thank our customers,
business partners and employees for our continued success in this market. As
the team at Microway looks forward to 2003, we see exciting technologies and
trends on the horizon. We view the HPC market as one with great potential for
solving important challenges from the life sciences arena to many
environmental problems in the world around us. This month’s newsletter is shorter
than normal due to holiday and trade show commitments. We look forward to the
next installment and the addition of a new column Tech Notes to share knowledge gained by our tech support
staff that will benefit the HPC community. Please give us feedback on how
Microway can continue to meet your high-speed numeric needs and be a valuable
partner in providing cost-effective state-of-the-art solutions. I am always
available to speak with our valued customers. Finally, and most importantly, on
behalf of Microway, I want to wish you best wishes and good health in the New
Year. Ann Fried Chairperson Microway
and Platform Computing Expand Relationship to Deliver Comprehensive
Clustering and Grid Solutions
Jay Owen, Vice President Business
Development As an integrator of custom Linux
clusters, Microway is always looking for new products and services that will
be beneficial for our customers. Last summer while we were developing our
family of cluster management tools we also evaluated Clusterware™, a
foundation product for effective use and administration of Linux clusters
built on Platform Computing’s highly successful LSF product. In July, we signed an agreement with
Platform Computing giving us access to Clusterware. This enabled the
technology for our CW Series -- AMD and Intel based Linux clusters powered by
Platform’s Clusterware. Based on our early success, Microway just recently
signed a separate agreement, providing access to Platform’s entire suite of
products [see below]. Our experience shows that Linux clusters
are beginning to gain popularity in traditional SMP applications. The
price/performance proposition and scalability are two compelling features. We
are seeing customers demand the same requirements for a cluster management
interface that matches their experience with SMP systems. With the emergence
of “grid computing” as another means of maximizing usage of IT resources,
Platform LSF also provides a logical migration path from Clusterware building
on the modular tools initially installed. As experts in Linux networking, we
are sometimes asked to contrast open source to commercial products. In this
case we see benefit to users concerned with scalability, migration paths to
products with increased functionality (e.g. grid computing) and the need for
reliable support. While the acquisition cost may be higher, the total cost of
ownership may be better due to reduced administrative support. We also see
Platform’s products as enabling technology to unify disparate underutilized
resources and make them manageable and useable under one umbrella. This is
definitely a space to watch in 2003. PRESS RELEASE – December 13, 2002
Microway, a leading provider of
custom Linux clusters, and Platform Computing announced that Microway will
now resell all Platform products and services, including Platform
Intelligence™ and Platform LSF® 5. This marks an expansion of the
existing OEM relationship through which Microway bundles Platform
Clusterware™, Platform’s cluster management solution, as part of its CW
Series Clusters offering. “We have been pleased with the
initial reaction to our CW Series Clusters powered by Platform Clusterware,”
commented Jay Owen, Vice President of Business Development at Microway. “Many
of our customers want to be able to obtain a wider range of Platform’s
products from us. This is a natural step.” Microway intends to increase the
level of in-house expertise in Platform’s products, especially those enabling
Grid computing. ”We are pleased to leverage the
success of our existing relationship with Microway and extend our OEM
relationship to a broader reseller agreement,” said Paul Hill, Vice President
Marketing and Business Development, Platform. “This closer working relationship will enable Microway
and Platform to provide customers
in the life sciences and research markets with solutions that increase
operational efficiency, improve business results, and increase return on
investment on the corporate IT asset.” With a new high performance,
Grid-enabled architecture, Platform LSF 5 is the foundation of Platform’s
Grid computing solutions, empowering enterprises to harness the untapped
processing power of globally distributed, heterogeneous computing resources.
Platform Intelligence is a unique solution that enables IT professionals to understand
and proactively manage complex distributed IT computing environments. The
first ‘IT Analytics’ solution of its kind, Platform Intelligence provides
visibility into the utilization, performance and value of distributed
enterprise-wide IT resources. HPC
Community Feedback
If you attended SC2002, what was the most
interesting aspect or technology Share
your thoughts with us by emailing hpc@microway.com
and we’ll post some of the answers in next month’s newsletter. Creating a
community of questions and answers. |
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