Microsoft has acquired Cycle Computing so that it can accelerate “Big Computing” in the cloud.
Cycle Computing is described by Microsoft Azure VP Jason Zander in a blog post as being “a leader in cloud computing orchestration, to help make it easier than ever for customers to use High-Performance Computing and other Big Computing capabilities in the cloud.”
The company first made its name on Amazon Web Services EC2 offering with software that claimed to be able to spin up to 10,000 cores, back in 2011, and then 50,000 cores which was designed for the discovery of pharmaceutical drugs. That was showcased in 2013, along with a 71,000 core offering that ran at 729 teraflops.
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Microsoft’s interest is due to its growing portfolio around technology that aims to do this such as find a cure for cancer and the advancement of artificial intelligence.
Zander said: “At Microsoft, we believe that access to Big Computing capabilities in the cloud has the power to transform many businesses and will be at the forefront of breakthrough experimentation and innovation in the decades to come.” 
The Redmond company believes that the combination of its own”Big Compute” infrastructure in the public cloud and Cycle Computing’s technology, along with its supercomputer experience, will help customers to move to the cloud, and make it easier to, “take advantage of the most performant and compliant infrastructure available in the public cloud today.”
In addition to the value that Cycle Computing will bring to aforementioned areas, Microsoft believes that the company’s technology will also further enhance its support of Linux HPC workloads, supposedly making it easier to extend on-premise workloads to the cloud.
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Jason Stowe, founder and CEO of Cycle Computing, said: “We see amazing opportunities in joining forces with Microsoft. Its global cloud footprint and unique hybrid offering is built with enterprises in mind, and its Big Compute/HPC team has already delivered pivotal technologies such as InfiniBand and next generation GPUs.
“The Cycle team can’t wait to combine CycleCloud’s technology for managing Linux and Windows compute & data workloads, with Microsoft Azure’s Big Compute infrastructure roadmap and global market reach.”
No financial details have been revealed about the value of the acquisition.
