REDMOND, Wash. and WALTHAM, Mass., June
1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- High-performance computing (HPC)
continues to gain in popularity as businesses face increasing
pressure to process data faster and with greater precision.
Microsoft Corp. and Novell Inc., working in concert with third
parties, are now making it easier for IT executives to take
advantage of the benefits of supercomputing with a technology
initiative developed in their joint Interoperability Lab based in
Cambridge, Mass. The initiative
brings value to the HPC market by helping customers realize greater
IT infrastructure efficiency and subsequent cost savings. Today,
Microsoft and Novell reported strong demand for their
high-performance computing interoperability solution with 33 shared
customers now deploying sophisticated server workload management
across SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server and Windows HPC Server.
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High-performance computing offers customers the ability to
process massive amounts of data and solve computationally intense
problems, making it an optimal choice for government entities,
universities and large companies. In the past year, Microsoft and
Novell have added HPC customer accounts in a wide range of
geographies and industries, such as the financial, healthcare,
higher education and technology sectors. Examples include Deutsche
Bank AG, Honeywell International, Japan Petroleum Exploration Co.
Ltd., Texas Instruments, Tianjin Dawning Information Industry Co.
Ltd. and the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
South Africa's Centre for High
Performance Computing (CHPC) in Cape
Town, the continent's largest publicly funded HPC facility,
is the latest company to adopt cross-platform solutions and
enterprise support offerings from Microsoft and Novell.
"The technical collaboration between Microsoft and Novell has
enabled us to reduce overall costs while increasing cross-platform
manageability. This means we're able to deliver more consistent
quality of service to our customers at the best price possible,"
said Dr. Happy Sithole, Ph.D., director of CHPC. "In addition,
migrating to the Linux support offered by Novell was a great
decision for us. Not only do we get the interoperability advantages
of seamless integration between our platforms, but we also have the
confidence of knowing we are supported by two world-class
vendors."
Businesses looking for ways to streamline infrastructure
management, reduce IT costs and mitigate risk have long realized
the value of interoperability as a way to optimize mixed-source IT
environments. HPC customers now can gain the critical flexibility
they need to simplify systems management through dual-boot and
hybrid cluster solutions developed jointly by Microsoft and
Novell.
"The ability to deploy and manage a complex high-performance
computing infrastructure across multiple platforms has enabled us
to streamline our IT operations without having to invest in new
hardware, people or skill sets, all while delivering better and
faster results for our clients," said Earl
J. Dodd, CEO of Rocky Mountain Supercomputing Centers
Inc.
Having the capacity to dynamically switch between the Windows or
Linux platforms empowers IT managers to balance server workloads by
running specific applications on the platform of their
choosing.
"Many customers are realizing the benefits of the Microsoft and
Novell® HPC technical solution that streamlines management
functions, reduces internal support requirements and enables
greater interoperability without having to dedicate time and
resources to devise workarounds," said Joe
Wagner, senior vice president and general manager of Global
Alliances at Novell. "Through our successful initiatives in the
joint Interoperability Lab, we've been able to anticipate the
mixed-source IT requirements necessary in today's business
environment."
"Companies around the world are realizing the benefits of our
joint interoperable cross-platform technical solutions," said
Ted MacLean, general manager for
Strategic Partnerships and Licensing at Microsoft. "The fact that
we're able to address a real need in the HPC market is evidenced by
the number of licenses we've issued. These solutions, coupled with
Novell's proven technical support programs, make it easier than
ever for our customers to have confidence that their existing
infrastructure investments will serve them well into the
future."
"For HPC customers considering a dual-platform strategy with
Windows HPC Server and a widely used Linux server product, they
will come to realize that the interoperability between Microsoft
and Novell platforms offers a clear advantage," said Nie Hua, vice president of Dawning Information
Industry. "Not only will you get the unprecedented flexibility of
running either server, but you will have confidence in knowing that
both operating systems will work seamlessly together in the
datacenter. In addition, we save time and money by getting all of
our support needs for both platforms from one resource."
This HPC solution represents another joint technical initiative
that delivers value to customers and partners. The partnership
continues to broaden its joint technical scope and offering to
enhance datacenter optimization for customers all over the
globe.
Through the Microsoft and Novell joint Interoperability Lab in
Cambridge, Mass., engineers from
both companies have been working side by side to create technical
solutions that support customers in addressing their unique
challenges relative to advancing their technical and business
objectives within a mixed-source operational environment.
Additional information about the Microsoft and Novell agreement,
customer migrations and their joint Interoperability Lab is
available online at http://www.moreinterop.com.
About Novell
Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL), a leader in Intelligent Workload
Management, helps organizations securely deliver and manage
computing services across physical, virtual and cloud computing
environments. We help customers reduce the cost, complexity, and
risk associated with their IT systems through our solutions for
identity and security, systems management, collaboration and Linux
based operating platforms. With our infrastructure software and
ecosystem of partnerships, Novell integrates mixed IT environments,
allowing people and technology to work as one. For more
information, visit www.novell.com.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide
leader in software, services and solutions that help people and
businesses realize their full potential.
Novell and SUSE are registered trademarks of Novell Inc. in the
U.S. and other countries. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus
Torvalds. All third-party trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.
SOURCE Microsoft Corp.