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NTT DATA ANNOUNCES FIRST GRID APPLIANCE, 'cell computing BOX'

NTT DATA Corp, a United Devices licensed reseller in Japan, China, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan, is now offering the first pre-configured commercial Grid computing appliance. The product, "cell computing BOX," is a turnkey system that consists of United Devices Grid MP software, server hardware and database software as a plug-and-play package. "cell computing BOX" can also be purchased pre-bundled with applications for life sciences and other industries.

With "cell computing BOX," companies can create a virtual high-performance compute resource by utilizing CPU power from underutilized office or home devices. The preconfigured system provides customers who might not have the internal resources and knowledge to deploy an onsite Grid system with a cost-effective means of implementing Grid technology. A "cell computing BOX" customer simply plugs in the product and pushes agent software out to the devices on the Grid.

"We expect 'cell computing BOX' to take off quickly because the customer will receive a system built and configured to their needs," said Shoji Yarimizu, deputy executive manager of marketing at NTT DATA. "This turn-key solution is an important step as Grid computing becomes an indispensable part of the enterprise computing fabric."

At present, NTT DATA is offering a variety of life sciences applications pre-bundled on the "cell computing BOX" system, including LigandFit, HMMER and CLUSTAL-W. In future, the company will bundle applications for other industries and will provide information and support for customers to develop their own Grid applications. NTT DATA will soon also release a toolkit which make batch rendering easy using Microsoft Excel.

In 2003, NTT DATA completed a cell computing Internet pilot project successfully with United Devices' Grid MP technology. Now the company sells Grid MP software and services directly to Asia-Pacific customers.

"NTT DATA continues to simplify Grid computing for the Asia-Pacific market," said Ed Hubbard, United Devices founder and president. "We are proud to be a key partner in their current and future success."