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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /
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Special Features:
THIS WEEK'S BRIEF ANALYSES OF
RECENT GRIDtoday NEWS ITEMS
By Rolf McClellan
Following are brief evaluations of recent news stories from GRIDtoday. Rolf
McClellan has nearly 20 years of experience in the network and computer
industry. www.mcclellanconsulting.com
IsoSpace Version 4.6 Real-Time Collaboration Software (03/26/04)
IsoSpace Inc has released IsoSpace v4.6, the next generation of its Web
conferencing and real-time collaboration software product.
Analysis: This release is out of place on GRIDtoday's "breaking news"
list.
Open Source Alchemi v0.6.1 Released By Gridbus Project (03/26/04)
Alchemi is an open source cluster/Grid computing framework for Windows with
the primary goal of being easy to use.
Analysis: Perhaps Alchemi can turn even leaden software into a golden Grid
platform, but open source software for Windows seems like an oxymoron.
SURFnet Builds Advanced Research Network (03/26/04)
Nortel Networks, Avici Systems and Telindus have been chosen to deliver
optical and IP solutions to SURFnet, the Netherlands educational and research
network. SURFnet is implementing the GigaPort Next Generation Network project,
a national initiative to strengthen the country's knowledge
infrastructure.
Analysis: Blending IP and optical technologies offers virtually unlimited
bandwidth for R&D, including projects that tap Internet Grid computing.
Akamai Elects CheckFree CEO Pete Kight To Board Of Directors
(03/25/04)
Akamai Technologies Inc has announced the election of Pete Kight, founder,
chairman and chief executive officer of CheckFree Corp, to its Board of
Directors.
Analysis: It would be a stretch to classify Akamai as a supplier of Grid
services. However, they have partnered with IBM to offer services that allow
Web site applications based on WebSphere J2EE to be executed locally by Akamai
servers at the Internet edge.
Visual Mining Announces United Devices As NetCharts Client (03/25/04)
Visual Mining Inc has announced that its product, NetCharts Server, has
been
embedded in United Devices Grid MP Insight, a system performance reporting
tool that is an optional upgrade for Grid MP.
Analysis: System performance monitoring and administration is critical for
production Grid environments and should be integrated into the Grid software
framework.
Hewlett-Packard Will Expand Linux Distribution (03/25/04)
Hewlett-Packard has announced that it will make desktop PCs running the
Novell
SuSE version of Linux generally available for business customers.
Analysis: One small step for HP, one small step for Linux. You won't see
these
computers at Circuit City or Office Depot because they are primarily intended
for a few large enterprises that buy PCs to run specific custom applications
rather than general office software. Could HP be so bullied by Microsoft that
it is reluctant to offer Linux desktop machines to the worldwide general
market?
Coyote Point To Deliver Blade Server Load Balancing Solutions
(03/24/04)
Coyote Point Systems has announced that its Equalizer server load balancing
software for Internet applications is available for licensing to blade server
vendors.
Analysis: The primary application for load balanced blade servers is
scalable,
high availability Web sites, such as those required by Web hosting service
providers and popular Web destinations.
Certicom Announces Security Builder Crypto-C# For MS .NET (03/24/04)
Certicom Corp has announced the availability of Security Builder Crypto-C#,
the first commercially available cryptographic developer toolkit for the
Microsoft Visual C# .NET application program interface (API).
Analysis: There won't be a shortage of partners for .NET
Covad Standardizes On BEA WebLogic Platform 8.1 (03/24/04)
Covad Communications Group Inc, a national broadband service provider,
plans
to migrate its entire information technology (IT) infrastructure to BEA
WebLogic Platform 8.1. Covad is trying to minimize IT costs through adoption
of industry standards including WebLogic, Linux and Intel processor
computing.
Analysis: Linux/Java is being groomed as an alternative to
Windows/.NET.
Candle Announces Two New PathWAI Solutions (03/23/04
Candle Corp has announced PathWAI XE for WebSphere Integration Brokers
V120,
a
performance tuning and analytical tool that monitors broker and message flow
performance, and PathWAI Dashboard for WebSphere Business Integration, a
graphical representation of performance for a WebSphere Message Broker/MQ
environment.
Analysis: These applications are intended for the management of enterprise
application integration (EAI) and e-business interactions.
Sun Demos Massive Multi-Player Java Game Server Prototype (03/23/04
Sun Microsystems Inc will be showcasing a prototype game server for the
Massively Multi-player On Line Game (MMOG) market The prototype integrates
Java with the TimesTen in-memory database and IGN/GameSpy player management
technology.
Analysis: The MMOGs may require a clustered server or even a Grid of
clustered
servers if the game is popular enough. But what game do thousands of people
want to play against each other? Perhaps some form of virtual reality war
game?
Internet Computing Finds More Cancer Growth Inhibitors (03/23/04
Find-a-Drug, a cycle-scavenging Internet Grid project screening molecular
structures for those that have the potential to inhibit the growth of cancer
cells, has evaluated over 500 million molecules and produced a set of
inhibitor candidates that are beginning to be lab tested by the US National
Cancer Institute. To date, the project has used around 2,000 years of computer
time, and has involved 20,000 PCs from over 60 countries.
Analysis: More screening is needed. PC owners may participate in the
project
by downloading the THINK software and molecules from
www.find-a-drug.org.
PolyServe Clustering Software Adds Support For Oracle 10g (03/22/04
PolyServe Inc announced that its Matrix Server cluster management software
now
supports Oracle Database 10g on Linux, as well as Oracle9i Real Application
Clusters (RAC).The Matrix Server is based on its own general-purpose Cluster
File System (CFS) rather than the Oracle CFS. The vendor claims that the
result is better manageability, scalability, and availability.
Analysis: The Oracle Web site does not list PolyServe as a certified
partner.
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