Systems/Enterprise:
UNITED DEVICES RECASTING ITSELF
FOR GRID CONSOLIDATION
By William Fellows, the451.com
United Devices is typically regarded as a leading – if specialist – grid
computing ISV with a 'CPU-scraping' point product focused mostly on the life
sciences market, where it's going head-to-head with Entropia for customers.
This is a "popular misconception," claims the three-year-old Austin, Texas-
based company, and one based solely on its initial go-to-market and channel
strategy. It says it's really an enterprise contender, and wants to change its
image accordingly so it can better compete with Sun, Platform and other
vendors.
To this end, the company has a new marketing vice president, Paul Kirchoff,
on board from Dell; is about to roll out release 4 of its product suite, with
extended enterprise features and additional platform support on hand; has a
new 'grand challenge' public grid project on the runway; and is currently
working through its strategic partnership options with a view to the M&A
activity it expects will engulf this sector in a couple of years' time.
Impact assessment
The message United Devices is shifting up a gear to address the enterprise
with new technology, a new marketing push, a new 'grand challenge' public grid
project and strategic partnerships that will follow in short order.
Competitive landscape
Entropia is UD's natural competition, but Platform and DataSynapse are also
hard at work in this market. UD's competitive ROI outreach messages target
'big iron' users such as Sun and IBM, saying PC grids offer a much cheaper
alternative.
The451 assessment United Devices wants to shake off its CPU-scraping image
and be recast as an enterprise contender. But its key value proposition right
now is that a PC grid running its software is much cheaper than an enterprise
server solution, and that one could replace the other. This isn't going to
happen anytime soon. So there is some work to do on messages and positioning
with regard to complementing existing infrastructure. We get the sense there's
also some very pragmatic window dressing going on here with a view to future
M&A activity in the sector.
Technology United Devices' core MetaProcessor (MP) software enables users
to aggregate compute power from Windows or Linux-based systems. UD says MP is
effectively a workload management application with sophisticated
scheduling.
Within the MP application framework, programming and command line
interfaces are available for running parallel or batch jobs. The MP grid
service interface (XML/SOAP) offers a single-processor multiple data type
(SPMD) interface for running jobs. It supports scripting (Perl) or compiled
languages (C, Java) and supports XML-RPC. Developers will need to create
application service brokers on top that submit and manage jobs.
The MP includes a scheduler, director, data manager, agents for Windows or
Linux devices participating and an administration console. It also offers
triple DES encryption and PKI authentication – something the likes of Sun and
Platform lack, UD claims.
There are four MP packages, including Enterprise MP for corporations to use
internally. MP OnDemand, meanwhile, is a hosted pay-per-use service. It's
hosted on the 8,000 Gateway CPUs running in demo machines across Gateway's 274
US retail stores. Alliance MP is designed to enable third parties to offer
their own spare compute resources on an on-demand basis. Gateway does this as
Gateway OnDemand for SMBs, from which UD gets a revenue cut. Last, Global MP
is for massive public grid projects such as the Intel-United Devices Cancer
Research Project and the Anthrax Research Project. There have been some two
million devices connected in these projects.
UD has also prototyped a .NET version of its software. The version 4
release of its software, due in the next few weeks, is claimed to offer better
application management, to support more complex operations and to have a
completely overhauled scheduler. In addition, Solaris, Irix and AIX agents are
due this quarter.
Sales and business model UD's only revenue-bearing sales are of the
Enterprise MP offering, for which there are 20 customers. Most are in life
sciences, followed by a smaller number in geosciences and government. Novartis
and GlaxoSmithKline are UD's chief reference customers.
Japan's largest integrator, NTT Data, is using Alliance MP to build a kind
of a Global MP for Japan, enabling its subscribers to share compute resources.
And the UK's Inpharmatica is said to have piloted OnDemand MP.
Bigger news later this month will see UD linking with a major IT vendor in
a new public grid project that will address another US homeland security
issue, much like the anthrax project. Again, it will use UD's Global MP
software.
UD has raised $31.2m in a couple of funding rounds, the last in 2001. It
isn't looking for any more financing. It has 50 employees and is running cash-
flow breakeven on a regular basis. The company figures its model is on a par
with Avaki and Entropia. UD's software costs $250 per node, with the server-
based management component given away for no charge. It says it's currently
reviewing its price structure to make it more attractive – giving away the
former and charging for the latter, perhaps?
Marketing and strategy It is UD's association with SETI-style PC cycle-
harvesting projects and its Windows and Linux footprint that have mostly
determined its position in the market. By the end of the first quarter of this
year, it expects to have agents available for Solaris, Irix and AIX, which it
will use to help leverage an enterprise opportunity. UD believes it can
compete with all grid compute solutions, but has no plan to address data
grids, a sector mostly owned by Avaki and IBM.
However, its key marketing outreach is that grids enable a quantum
improvement in ROI by leveraging existing, underutilized resources. A $50,000,
250-PC grid can do the work of a $3m server, it claims.
In its view, the efforts of the Global Grid Forum and Open Grid Services
Architecture will deliver the handshake – enabling enterprise resources to be
aggregated and to work together. But the key element for enterprise adoption
with be the subsequent security and authentication requirements, which the
company doesn't believe are being addressed right now.
UD expects the grid market to begin consolidating in about two years, once
the opportunity for the large vendors becomes clear. The winning startups will
be those that have won some valuable customers and have revenue. With what
looks like a view to how it can make itself attractive to a potential suitor,
UD is working on strategic partnering options. It's working with IBM and is
talking with Microsoft, Dell and others, it says. It doesn't believe grid
computing offers IPO opportunities, nor the classic 'innovator's dilemma'
disruptive opportunity. The major vendors are working hard to partner with the
companies pushing the envelope, and won't let any develop to be a disruptive
threat, UD says.
Competition UD points to three competitive advantages. First, its software
scales such that devices can be added without requiring software additions –
unlike Platform's clustering software, UD claims. Second, it offers an
integrated level of security and authentication, which Sun, Platform and
others don't. And third, it has a more flexible application environment. Jobs
submitted are automatically sent to the appropriate execution environment.
UD offers specific competitive comparisons. IBM's 32-way p690 Regatta lists
at $2,037,000. UD claims a p690 offers the equivalent power of 160 PCs. And
160 PCs running its $250 agent costs $40,000 – a $2m savings. Sun's 48-way
StarFire 15k lists at $2,425,470 and is the equivalent of 132 PCs; 132 PCs
running its agent is $33,000 – a savings of more than $2m.
UD's natural market competition is Entropia, which offers a similar CPU-
harvesting technology and is focused on the life sciences market. UD says it
has faced off against both Entropia and Platform in competitive bids and never
lost.
Courtesy of: http//www.the451.com
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