Microsoft enters high-end computing

Microsoft Corporation has made its entry into the high-performance computing (HPC) segment by announcing the availability of the Windows Compute Cluster Server (CCS) 2003.

The segment has so far been dominated by the Linux/ Unix platform with more than 90 per cent market share.

The debut in the HPC segment is not meant for Microsoft to carve out a slice from the Linux/ Unix HPC pie, the company rather intends to focus on selected verticals such as oil and gas, life sciences, academia and high-end research-oriented sectors that require high amount of data storage mostly for scientific work.

"The HPC market is exploding, and our target areas are mostly those sectors which require high amount of data storage for scientific research. We are in no way targeting to take a pie from the Linux/Unix HPC market share," a Microsoft spokesperson said.

According to Microsoft Corp, the Windows CCS 2003 has been designed specifically to run applications solving complex computations and is aimed at taking supercomputing mainstream by making it more accessible, affordable and easy-to-use.

"Users of high-performance computing have been using the Linux/ Unix platform. But the system administrators are more used to Microsoft Windows. With the launching of the CCS, high-performance computing is now possible at the Microsoft platform," said Vaibhav Phadnis, director - server business group, Microsoft India.

Phadnis said the product was easy to deploy as well as to operate. "You can deploy this using automated tools. Deployment and operation are extremely easy, unlike the others where you need to have a dedicated team for the deployment as well as the maintenance of the platform," he added.

Microsoft is working with ISVs like Abaqus, Ansys, ESI Group, Fluent, MSC Software Corp and Schlumberger Information Systems to develop applications that can interoperate with Windows CCS 2003.

Besides, the company is also partnering with a number of OEMs like IBM, HP, DELL and Intel so that the Windows CCS 2003 can run on their hardware.

The server market, according to an internal Microsoft survey, is growing at around 30 per cent a year, while the HPC computing server is growing at 40 per cent.