Enterprise HPC | John West http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/?source=rss Supercomputing Week in Review en-us john@onlytraitofaleader.com 2008-02-04T08:47:19-08:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 New Mexico's supercomputer may have a troubled future http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2008/02/new_mexicos_sup.html?source=rss I learned something interesting about the new SGI super being fired up in New Mexico: the state intends for it to “pay for itself.” Sue Vorenberg has a profile piece on the machine (named Encanto, Spanish for “enchanted”) in the Santa Fe New Mexican (here) that focuses primarily on the visualization challenge — getting from data to information, as we say in the trade. I haven’t been paying too much attention to how the business of this machine is getting done, so I found it interesting to learn that the state intends for the machine to support itself by charging... <a href="http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2008/02/new_mexicos_sup.html?source=rss"> READ MORE</a> </p> http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2008/02/new_mexicos_sup.html John West 2008-02-04T08:47:19-08:00 Amid AMD's mounting losses market rumors could signal shift in HPC chips http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2008/01/amid_amds_mount.html?source=rss Last week we reported on Intel’s Q4 (reminder: they made almost $2B but their stock tanked; details here and a million other palces). AMD’s news was much more on the &#8220;leap out of a window&#8221; side of things. AMD reported recently that they lost $1.722B in Q4, compared to $576M in Q4 a year ago. For the year AMD lost $3.4B, compared to only $166M in 2006. You have to admire a guy that can get that kind of news and then say this &#8220;We were close to break-even operationally for the quarter, reducing our fourth quarter non-GAAP operating loss... <a href="http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2008/01/amid_amds_mount.html?source=rss"> READ MORE</a> </p> http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2008/01/amid_amds_mount.html John West 2008-01-28T07:54:44-08:00 Sun's 0 datacenter plan http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2008/01/suns_0_datacent.html?source=rss Continuing to riff on the theme that high performance computing is entering an age of separation between users and operators (for example, Dan Reed writing in HPCwire last week), I bring to your attention a blog post by Nick Carr in which he reports on the growing trend among large computing manufacturers to consolidate their own IT infrastructures. Nick observes, for example, that HP is already reducing its own datacenters from 85 to 6, and cutting the number of servers in those centers by 30 percent. Then there’s Sun. Now, Sun Microsystems is upping the stakes. Brian Cinque, the data... <a href="http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2008/01/suns_0_datacent.html?source=rss"> READ MORE</a> </p> http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2008/01/suns_0_datacent.html John West 2008-01-15T09:25:10-08:00 Of grids and clouds http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2008/01/of_grids_and_cl.html?source=rss Ian Foster (part of the founding intellect in the concept of grids in HPC) has an interesting post on his blog this week where he looks at the trends of grid and cloud computing, and hazards a few predictions for the future. The Big Idea behind grid computing is delivery of computing power on demand &#8212; in the sense that electricity is delivered on demand &#8212; to consumers. So is “cloud computing” just a new name for grid? In information technology, where technology scales by an order of magnitude, and in the process reinvents itself, every five years, there is... <a href="http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2008/01/of_grids_and_cl.html?source=rss"> READ MORE</a> </p> http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2008/01/of_grids_and_cl.html John West 2008-01-10T07:04:03-08:00 When chip manufacturers mess up the fundamentals, the future of big compute suffers http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/12/when_chip_manuf.html?source=rss Chip manufacturers have long missed schedules and produced chips that only sometimes work as advertised. But, as big compute grows up and is adopted in departments and enterprises throughout the business landscape, it's time for the big compute vendors to create new business relationships with the manufacturers that spread the pain for broken plans throughout their supply chain.

]]> <a href="http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/12/when_chip_manuf.html?source=rss"> READ MORE</a> </p> http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/12/when_chip_manuf.html John West 2007-12-17T08:20:27-08:00 Clovertown's power profile is great, but what about the FB-DIMMs? http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/09/clovertowns_pow.html?source=rss In today's HPC news summary we look at the total picture on Clovertown's power profile, Sun agrees to OEM Windows Server, Appro announces a new entry level HPC server, and more.

]]> <a href="http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/09/clovertowns_pow.html?source=rss"> READ MORE</a> </p> http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/09/clovertowns_pow.html John West 2007-09-14T09:30:01-08:00 Sun acquires commercial Lustre vendor, and much more http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/09/hpc_news_roundu.html?source=rss In today's enterprise HPC roundup we have news that Sun has announced today that it will acquire Lustre file system vendor CFS. Also, Wall Street's gear appeals to online gaming companies, new hardware, and lightweight virtual machines.

]]> <a href="http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/09/hpc_news_roundu.html?source=rss"> READ MORE</a> </p> http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/09/hpc_news_roundu.html John West 2007-09-12T14:58:58-08:00 Enterprise HPC news roundup: the Barcelona edition http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/09/enterprise_hpc_6.html?source=rss AMD finally launched Barcelona today, six months late and several hundred megahertz slower than originally expected. Still, vendors didn't wait around for things to improve; enterprise and traditional HPC vendors alike scrambled to announce new products today built around the much anticipated chip.

]]> <a href="http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/09/enterprise_hpc_6.html?source=rss"> READ MORE</a> </p> http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/09/enterprise_hpc_6.html John West 2007-09-10T14:20:08-08:00 Enterprise HPC news: the performance edition http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/enterprise_hpc_5.html?source=rss Today's enterprise HPC news roundup is all about performance.

New chips that will get you there (Intel's Penryn and IBM's new cell processor blades), software that will help you make your chips hum (AMD's SSE5 announced and migration of virtual machines between different generations of AMD gear), and not-so-good financial performance from HPC manufacturer SGI.

]]> <a href="http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/enterprise_hpc_5.html?source=rss"> READ MORE</a> </p> http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/enterprise_hpc_5.html John West 2007-08-31T07:22:35-08:00 What Intel's CSI might look like, the 411 on Woven Systems, a 9200 core Windows CCS system, and more http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/what_intels_csi.html?source=rss In today's enterprise HPC roundup analyst David Kanter trolls through patents and interviews engineers to sketch out what Intel's CSI might look like when announced next month, the 411 on 10GbE switch vendor Woven Systems, a 9200 core dual boot Windows CCS system, and more.

]]> <a href="http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/what_intels_csi.html?source=rss"> READ MORE</a> </p> http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/what_intels_csi.html John West 2007-08-29T09:22:34-08:00 Get your JAVA, ProCurve doing well, Feds ask for comment on networking plan, and more http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/get_your_java_p.html?source=rss In this today's enterprise HPC roundup Sun's new ticker symbol goes live, HP reports that its ProCurve gear is doing well, the government wants your help getting its networking plan right, and more.

]]> <a href="http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/get_your_java_p.html?source=rss"> READ MORE</a> </p> http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/get_your_java_p.html John West 2007-08-27T07:45:00-08:00 AMD's marketing chief bails, HP leads blade market, Sun targets transactional memory, Tilera's new 64-core chip, and more http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/amds_marketing.html?source=rss Sorry for the absence this week. I was working on other projects. In today's enterprise HPC overview we find that AMD's marketing chief bails and leaves PC industry, HP leads blade server market, Sun targets transactional memory for it's next generation Rock processor, Tilera launches a new 64-core chip, and IT Director summarizes HP's announcements from LinuxWorld.

]]> <a href="http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/amds_marketing.html?source=rss"> READ MORE</a> </p> http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/amds_marketing.html John West 2007-08-24T07:24:04-08:00 IBM and Sun tighten Solaris partnership, quantum computing takes another step forward, scientists claim speed of light violated http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/ibm_and_sun_tig.html?source=rss In today's enterprise HPC roundup IBM and Sun strengthen their Solaris relationship, researchers move the ball forward on inexpensive quantum computing, and German scientists announce a finding they claim proves the speed of light is not fixed where we thought it was.

]]> <a href="http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/ibm_and_sun_tig.html?source=rss"> READ MORE</a> </p> http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/ibm_and_sun_tig.html John West 2007-08-17T08:51:40-08:00 Intel announces Penryn ship date, launches new QC Xeons, AMD releases multicore software tool spec http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/intel_announces.html?source=rss In today's enterprise HPC wrap-up we focus on new technology announcements from Intel that will shape big compute in the enterprise, including two new quad core Xeons from Intel and a ship date for the new Penryn 45nm processors. AMD is also in the news this week with a new spec aimed at making it easier for chips to make runtime decisions about how apps make use of multicore processors.

]]> <a href="http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/intel_announces.html?source=rss"> READ MORE</a> </p> http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/intel_announces.html John West 2007-08-15T09:30:35-08:00 NSF's got a really big pair, AMD's icky factor up again, XenSource revs offering and much more http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/nsfs_got_a_real.html?source=rss In today's HPC news roundup the NSF announces the winner of its $208M Track 1 supercomputer award, AMD continues its press barrage against Intel and ups its icky factor yet again, XenSource revs its virtualization offering, and much more.

]]> <a href="http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/nsfs_got_a_real.html?source=rss"> READ MORE</a> </p> http://weblog.infoworld.com/hpc/archives/2007/08/nsfs_got_a_real.html John West 2007-08-13T08:07:03-08:00