IBM Scores Microsoft as First iDataPlex Customer (
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The IBM iDataPlex server array will serve as the testing hardware for Microsofts Windows High-Performance Cluster operating system.IBM and Microsoft, which alternate
between fierce competitors and willing partners, are teaming up to test new
limits in the field of high-performance computing and the cloud.
On June 27, IBM
officially will announce that Microsoft is one of the first customers for its
iDataPlex server array. IBM first introduced this x86 server system in
April as a way to build out an enterprises infrastructure for cloud computing,
Web 2.0 applications and high-performance computing.
In the case of Microsoft, the companys Windows Server Group plans to use a
data center full of iDataPlex systems to test and benchmark its
high-performance computer cluster operating system called Windows HPC
Server 2008. For years, the field of HPC and
supercomputing has been dominated by systems running Linux, and Microsoft is
looking to change that. It recently announced that it
had helped construct a system that offers a performance of 68.5 teraflops,
or 68.5 trillion calculations per second.
While the rivalry between Microsoft and IBM
has been fairly intense in certain areas, the two companies also need each
other, and this agreement helps the two in very different ways.
For Microsoft, the deal allows it to tap into the expertise and success that
IBM has within the HPC
and supercomputing field. In the latest version of the Top 500 supercomputer
list, IBM
had five machines in the Top 10, including the $100 million Roadrunner
system at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, with a performance of more than 1
petaflop.
The iDataPlex, which uses a number of commodity partsfrom Intel processors
to industry-standard switchesallows Microsoft to use that expertise in its own
internal testing of its OS. (The IBM
iDataPlex also uses Linux as part of its commodity makeupa point IBM
makes in its announcement. However, a spokesperson for Big Blue said
iDataPlex can run both Linux and Windows, since it's based on x86 hardware.)
To help with HPC, IBM
is also expanding iDataPlex with Intel Xeon quad-core 5400 series processors3.0GHzto
pack 145 teraflops of performance into one of the companys new 315-square-foot
modular data centers.
Its a very practical platform for Microsoft to test on and help configure
the operating system, said Charles King, an analyst with Pund-IT Research. To
test in an HPC environment, a company needs
systems that can scale and can [be] very dense, and I think Microsoft is well-served
by using something like iDataPlex.