Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News

      Microsoft Cluster Server Enters Second Beta

      By
      Peter Galli
      -
      November 21, 2005
      Share
      Facebook
      Twitter
      Linkedin

        Company chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates last week announced the second beta for Microsoft Corp.s Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003, a 64-bit operating system for industry-standard x64 processors.

        Gates used his keynote address at the Supercomputing show in Seattle to make the announcement, which follows the release of the first, more limited beta at Microsofts Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles in September.

        “We expect our customers to start preproduction deployment evaluations of the product with this beta,” said Kyril Faenov, Microsofts director for HPC (high-performance computing), adding that the team is not planning a third Windows CCS beta, so a release candidate will be next.

        Asked what feedback Microsoft had received from the developers who tested Beta 1, Faenov said it became clear just how important it is to provide them with diagnostic tools.

        “To a large degree, it is not as much the software challenges but the hardware challenges that come into play when some cluster configurations are deployed,” Faenov said. “So, diagnostics become really important, and we have done some good thinking and made some improvements in that area. There was also a lot of focus during Beta 2 development on optimizing the performance.”

        Some users, such as David Robert, a systems manager for a global consulting and engineering company in Cambridge, Mass., are hoping that Microsoft will be successful in making a product that is easier to use than Linux.

        “We are in the process of setting up a three-way Oracle [Corp.] cluster on Linux that uses a shared file system, and it has been a bear, what with the lack of documentation and problems with our backup program not being compatible. Im sure Microsoft will do a better job in this arena than Linux,” Robert said.

        To help ISVs rapidly migrate their code, Microsoft showcased about 19 applications, such as a car crash simulation guide and a weather modeling guide, as well as a demonstration of BioTeam Inc.s Inquiry software—which includes 160 open-source BioTeam applications—on a Windows CCS cluster at its booth at the Supercomputing show last week, Faenov said.

        “These companies were all able to move to Windows 64-bit if they were not already there, pick up our FDI [file decompression interface] and just run with it, and that has been very encouraging,” he said, adding that the product is still on track to ship in the first half of next year.

        Asked what its strategy is toward the Linux and open-source community, given Linuxs dominance in the HPC field and the fact that Microsoft is including the MPI (Message Passing Interface) in the product, Faenov said Microsoft has no such strategy per se.

        “Our strategy is to deliver the best value and help grow the market, and we are making very pragmatic choices based on specific requirements we hear partners or customers want. MPI was an example of this, and if there are other places where this makes sense for us, our customers and/or partners, well look at them,” Faenov said.

        All the major OEMs, including IBM, Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell Inc. and NEC Solutions America Inc., as well as all the major interconnect vendors, have announced support for the product, Faenov said.

        Microsoft will release a single 64-bit-only version of CCS 2003, which will also run on all the hardware platforms supported by Windows Server 2003 SP1 (Service Pack 1), on which it is based.

        “We are going to work with our hardware partners to tailor the systems to particular market scenarios and then to do benchmarks and evidence generation for key applications,” Faenov said.

        The announcement of Beta 2 marked a milestone for the Redmond, Wash., software maker, which is committed for the long term to HPC, as well as to a broader technical and scientific computing area.

        There are three main pillars for Microsoft: business computing; consumer computing; and, now, technical and scientific computing, an area in which there is room for many software advances, according to Faenov.

        In his keynote, Gates also pointed to the need for software to help scientists and researchers focus on their work and not on the underlying IT, Faenov said.

        /zimages/6/28571.gifMicrosoft will add 64-bit computing to key products. Click here to read more.

        In addition, Gates talked about Microsofts multimillion-dollar investments in and multiyear commitment to 10 Institutes for High Performance Computing around the globe, where it is creating funded research positions at facilities such as the University of Utah, Cornell Universitys Cornell Theory Center, the University of Stuttgart and the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

        “The centers we chose have a unique blend of expertise, as they do research in HPC systems and, in many cases, are closely affiliated with an HPC center, giving them a unique insight from both a scientific and industry perspective on what will actually help solve real problems,” Faenov said.

        The agreements with Microsoft will see the staff at these centers deploy the vendors HPC and other products and then work with Microsoft staff to explore and maximize its product road map going forward, Faenov said.

        /zimages/6/28571.gifCheck out eWEEK.coms for the latest news, views and analysis on servers, switches and networking protocols for the enterprise and small businesses.

        Peter Galli
        Peter Galli has been a financial/technology reporter for 12 years at leading publications in South Africa, the UK and the US. He has been Investment Editor of South Africa's Business Day Newspaper, the sister publication of the Financial Times of London.He was also Group Financial Communications Manager for First National Bank, the second largest banking group in South Africa before moving on to become Executive News Editor of Business Report, the largest daily financial newspaper in South Africa, owned by the global Independent Newspapers group.He was responsible for a national reporting team of 20 based in four bureaus. He also edited and contributed to its weekly technology page, and launched a financial and technology radio service supplying daily news bulletins to the national broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, which were then distributed to some 50 radio stations across the country.He was then transferred to San Francisco as Business Report's U.S. Correspondent to cover Silicon Valley, trade and finance between the US, Europe and emerging markets like South Africa. After serving that role for more than two years, he joined eWeek as a Senior Editor, covering software platforms in August 2000.He has comprehensively covered Microsoft and its Windows and .Net platforms, as well as the many legal challenges it has faced. He has also focused on Sun Microsystems and its Solaris operating environment, Java and Unix offerings. He covers developments in the open source community, particularly around the Linux kernel and the effects it will have on the enterprise.He has written extensively about new products for the Linux and Unix platforms, the development of open standards and critically looked at the potential Linux has to offer an alternative operating system and platform to Windows, .Net and Unix-based solutions like Solaris.His interviews with senior industry executives include Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Linus Torvalds, the original developer of the Linux operating system, Sun CEO Scot McNealy, and Bill Zeitler, a senior vice president at IBM.For numerous examples of his writing you can search under his name at the eWEEK Website at www.eweek.com.
        Get the Free Newsletter!
        Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
        This email address is invalid.
        Get the Free Newsletter!
        Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
        This email address is invalid.

        MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

        Latest News

        Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

        James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
        I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
        Read more
        Applications

        Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

        James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
        I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
        Read more
        IT Management

        Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

        James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
        I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
        Read more
        Applications

        Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

        James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
        I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
        Read more
        Cloud

        IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

        James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
        I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
        Read more
        Logo

        eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

        Facebook
        Linkedin
        RSS
        Twitter
        Youtube

        Advertisers

        Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

        Advertise with Us

        Menu

        • About eWeek
        • Subscribe to our Newsletter
        • Latest News

        Our Brands

        • Privacy Policy
        • Terms
        • About
        • Contact
        • Advertise
        • Sitemap
        • California – Do Not Sell My Information

        Property of TechnologyAdvice.
        © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

        Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

        ×