Microsoft brings high performance computing to the mainstream

Microsoft Corporation India Pvt Ltd. has launched the 'Windows compute cluster server 2003' its flagship product for high performance computing (HPC) at TechEd in Bangalore.

The compute cluster server 2003 is Microsoft's first software product designed specifically to run parallel, high-performance computing applications for customers solving complex computations in academics, engineering, oil and gas and public sector enterprises as its key focus segments in India. The company is also working with several Indian and global ISVs, partners and hardware manufacturers to develop and release solutions that run on, or interoperate with, with the compute cluster server. The product is expected to be available to customers in early August 2006.

"According to analyst firm IDC, the high-performance and technical computing (HPTC) market grew approximately 24 per cent in 2005 to reach a record $9.2 billion in revenue, which is the second consecutive year of 20 per cent-plus growth in this market, said Jeff Price, senior director, windows server division, Microsoft Corporation. "The HPC cluster market share continued to show explosive growth, representing over 50 per cent of HPTC market revenue in the first quarter of 2006. IDC reported that worldwide x86 HPTC cluster revenue grew 70 per cent year over year (2004 to 2005)."

Price adds, "IDC indicated that high-performance computing clusters in the lower-end capacity segments of the market will see substantial customer adoption in the coming years. These systems represent a significant initial opportunity for Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003. Microsoft envisions making HPC technology more pervasive — something that's as easy to locate and use as printers are today. We, at Microsoft, are very excited about our entry into this market, and the promise this holds for our customers and partners in the months and years ahead."

The compute cluster server provides customers with a simplified deployment and management experience, easy integration with existing Windows infrastructure, and allows customers to leverage their existing development skills using Visual Studio 2005. Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 will deliver a more mainstream platform for engineers, scientists and researchers to solve scaled-out business and scientific computational problems.

According to Vaibhav Phadnis, director, server business group, Microsoft India, "Microsoft is taking high performance computing to the mainstream. We aim to expand HPC beyond traditional supercomputing centres toward departments and divisions in commercial industry and the public sector. Microsoft is making long-term investments by collaborating with the HPC community and application vendors in this regard. We recently announced a HPC community in India which already has close to 1000 responses and Partner trainings in India have been scheduled starting July".