Lessons From the Lab

News about high-performance computing (HPC) is an instant turnoff to many commercial end users, and with good reason. Who has the time to explore solutions that may be technologically interesting, but not immediately relevant or useable?

Recent news from a host of storage suppliers may get you thinking differently. NetApp, Microsoft, and others are releasing products for HPC that are really aimed at enterprise customers.

Indeed, a large grain of rock salt should be taken with NetApp's claim this week that its Data Ontap GX operating system is primarily for HPC. (See NetApp's GX Targets HPC.) For one thing, NetApp's late to the party for NAS clustering, necessitating a justifiable (if dubious) spin. Meanwhile, its competitors aren't making a living on lab rats alone. Just ask anyone at BlueArc, Exanet, Ibrix, Isilon, Onstor, and Panasas if their products are limited to HPC. Better yet, ask the folks who recently stumped up another $29 million to expand BlueArc's marketing. (See BlueArc Returns to Trough.)

No, on closer inspection, it seems likelier that NetApp doesn't want to cut into sales of its mainstream Ontap 7G OS until the new product is guaranteed to fly and until enterprise security and data protection are built into GX. Better for NetApp to play it safe, touting its late entry into the cluster market as a higher-end offering.

Microsoft is less circumspect about Windows Computer Cluster Server, unveiled last week. (See Microsoft Pitches Linux Cluster Buster.) While that too is geared to HPC users, don't think for a minute that Redmond is aiming its cluster labwards alone."Our customers that have never tried high-performance computing can easily install this," says Patrick O'Rourke, Microsoft's lead product manager for the new cluster offering. The bid to replace Linux clusters with Windows ones in any network couldn't be plainer.

Clearly, enterprise networks and SANs are looking more like mini-HPC environments as the sheer volume of data handled by corporate networks continues to boom. That's why we're hearing more, not only about clusters, but about InfiniBand and 10-Gbit/s – formerly networks relevant only in the weird and wonderful research arena.

In this vein, IBM's 10-Gbit/s blade server switch makes sense. (See IBM Flashes 10-Gig Switch Blade.) So does the pitch by Myricom (formerly an HPC network play) to graduate from lab to enterprise. (See Myricom Sees Ethernet Light and High-Speed Links Head for Mainstream.) And we haven't even gotten to the range of grid-computing technologies on offer.

So next time you hear the term HPC related to any storage product, take note: This bid's for you.

— Mary Jander, Site Editor, Byte and SwitchOrganizations mentioned in this article: