The Highest-Performing Version of Windows Ever
Microsoft's play in the world of high-performance computing doesn't get the
same attention as Vista, Bill Gates' wealth or attempts to buy Yahoo. And that's
a shame because Microsoft has been doing some rather exceptional work in this
area, with much of the innovation coming directly from the geniuses at Microsoft
Research.
The core product here is Windows High Performance Computing (HPC) Server 2008,
which was just
completed.
Tools like these have been mostly used by scientists and engineers, and for
massive data-mining-type apps. But as the world starts thinking more about cloud
computing and IT thinks about building internal clouds, what used to be the
domain of the supercomputer intelligentsia could become standard datacenter
fare.
Think Windows HPC doesn't have the juice for this kind of computing? Think
again. Cray thinks the software is good enough to drive its supercomputers.
Not too shabby.
Posted by Doug Barney on September 23, 2008 at 11:52 AM