The Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory is working with IBM Corp and VA Linux Systems Inc to build what it claims will be the world’s biggest open source supercomputing cluster, Chiba City. VA has provided 256 2-CPU computational servers, while IBM has contributed Netfinity servers for cluster management, file storage and visualization. If nothing else, Chiba City proves that VA’s reputation as that Linux workstation company is misplaced.
CEO Larry Augustin told ComputerWire that more than half of the company’s business comes from the provision of small, high density, manageable servers. Those that don’t end up in a DoE supercomputer are likely to be found in internet infrastructure companies like Akamai, Exodus, AboveNet and GlobalCenter, or at the heart of an aggressive e-commerce player like eToys. What makes this a particularly elegant business model is that management software developed for the Argonne cluster, for example, frequently turns out to have equally compelling applications in the eToys web server farm. No one foresaw that particular piece of synergy; it was a happy chance. Add to servers and supercomputing a growing demand for VA’s professional services in designing the computing architecture for internet and web service providers, and what you get is much more than a mere workstation shifter. รก
