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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY / JUNE 23, 2003: VOL. 2 NO. 25
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Special Features:
CLUSTERVISION, PCC UNIVERSITY OF
AMSTERDAM PARTNER ON GRID
ClusterVision, specialist in Linux supercomputer clusters, has entered into
a
far-reaching partnership with PCC UvA BV to boost its Grid Computing software
and services business. PCC UvA (Power Computing & Communications University of
Amsterdam) is a technology transfer company of the University of Amsterdam
specialising in High Performance Computing (HPC) and Grid Computing. As part
of the partnership, PCC UvA has obtained a 15% share in ClusterVision in
return for a substantial investment in the form of cash, manpower, software
and technology.
Grid Computing is a relatively new technology which allows geographically
distributed IT resources to be shared in a transparent way. Grid Computing
technology allows large amounts of compute power, storage capacity, network
bandwidth, but also scientific instruments to be combined to achieve optimal
utilisation and manageability of the available resources.
ClusterVision's Grid Computing division "GridVision" focuses on three main
activities:
1) Grid-Enabled Clusters -- compute and storage clusters for high
performance
computing which are ready to be deployed in an existing Grid
infrastructure;
2) Grid Computing Consultancy -- consultancy for organisations that would
like
to benefit from Grid technology, but need outside help to select and implement
the right technology and software;
3) Virtual Laboratory -- a specific set of research tools based on Grid and
Web technology which allow experiments to be designed, controlled and
conducted over the internet. Virtual Laboratories are particularly useful for
research communities with members in different locations who work on the same
data-intensive experiments and share supercomputing or data storage resources,
but also scientific instruments such as microscopes, telescopes, MRI scanners,
etc.
ClusterVision and PCC UvA will work together in developing the Virtual
Laboratory software into a full commercial product ready for deployment at
industrial customers. Grid Computing experts from PCC UvA will also be
involved in ClusterVision's Grid projects where new Grids of clusters are
implemented or where clusters are integrated with existing Grids.
PCC UvA has a long-standing reputation in the fields of HPC and Grid
Computing. PCC UvA's scientific head and professor at the University of
Amsterdam, professor Bob Herzberger, is well-known in the Dutch HPC community
for his research and software development in these fields, but also for the
HPCN conferences which he initiated in the early nineties.
"We have been looking for a while for a suitable commercial partner with
the
right product portfolio, the right people and the right target customers to
benefit from our knowledge and technology and work with us to develop our
software into a full commercial product", said professor Bob Hertzberger.
Dr ir Matthijs van Leeuwen, ClusterVision's sales director, said: "The
partnership with PCC UvA gives our Grid Computing business a tremendous
technology advantage in this quickly growing market. PCC UvA's Virtual
Laboratory technology is a very promising research tool which could be of
great benefit to many of our customers. Furthermore, this partnership gives us
direct access to some of the most experienced Grid Computing experts in
Europe."
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