High Performance Computing
Traditional computing takes the form of an application running on a server or workstation. All of the commands for the application are processed on the local system. High Performance Computing (HPC) instead uses the processing power of multiple systems to process the commands for an application. Distributing the processing load across multiple systems allows for faster processing of the data.
The benefits and cost savings of Windows Server 2008 extend to Windows HPC Server 2008 for your high performance computing (HPC) environment. Windows HPC Server 2008 is built on Windows Server 2008, x64-bit technology and can efficiently scale to thousands of processing cores with out-of-the-box functionality to improve the productivity, and reduce the complexity of your HPC environment. Windows HPC Server 2008 enables broader adoption by providing a rich and integrated end-user experience that scales from the desktop application to the clusters, and includes a comprehensive set of deployment, administration, and monitoring tools that are easy to deploy, manage, and integrate with your existing infrastructure.
Windows HPC Server 2008 Enhancements
Windows HPC Server 2008 is based on the Windows Server 2008 operating system and provides a full clustering environment. Windows HPC Server 2008 can scale to support larger deployments and includes a new scheduler, better provisioning based on the Windows Server 2008 Windows Deployment Services technology, a faster Microsoft Message Passing Interface (MS-MPI) that includes new Network Direct support, and a new management interface.
Windows HPC Server 2008 works with other Microsoft products to help increase HPC productivity and improve the overall end-user experience. This includes collaboration through Microsoft Office SharePoint Server and the Windows Workflow Foundation, as well as improved management and efficiency by integrating with Microsoft System Center solutions. Through integration with the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), Windows HPC Server 2008 allows developers working with Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) applications to harness the power of parallel computing offered by HPC solutions.
A wide range of software vendors, in various vertical industries, have also designed their applications to work seamlessly with Windows HPC Server 2008, so that users can submit and monitor jobs from within familiar applications without having to learn new or complex user interfaces. In addition to supporting OpenMP, MPI, and Web Services, Windows HPC Server 2008 also supports third-party numerical library providers, performance optimizers, compilers, and a native parallel debugger for developing and troubleshooting parallel programs. |
