Microsoft Corp. acknowledged on Tuesday night that it is running about six months behind schedule with its high-end Windows Server 2003 Compute Cluster Edition product.
A week ago, company officials said Microsoft expected to release an updated beta of the product, formerly known as Windows Server High Performance Computing Edition, in the first half of this year, with final product release likely before the end of calendar 2005.
But Tuesday, a Microsoft spokeswoman provided new, later ship targets, citing customer and partner feedback as the reason for the delay. Both groups are requesting the highest levels of ease of use and manageability, the spokeswoman said.
“Microsoft has collected customer and partner feedback on product features and specifications to ensure this first version release is tailored properly for our target customer segment – scale-out, personal and department supercomputing. To ensure this feedback is incorporated, Microsoft is now planning to deliver the first beta to customers in the second half of 2005 and the final release is scheduled for first half 2006,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.
Microsoft is planning to refresh the Compute Cluster Edition SDK (software development kit) this summer, the spokeswoman added. The kit was originally distributed to select ISVs and OEMs in late 2004.
Microsoft is anticipating the target user base for the CCE SKU to be broader than traditional academic and government supercomputing base.