Windows-Based Supercomputers Make Top 500 List
Great to see 2 Windows CCS machines on the new Top 500 list
Also look for the Microsoft Excel Add-in to drive all the LinPack benchmarks - should be released soon at https://windowshpc.net
Windows-Based Supercomputers Make Top 500 List
Illustrating the ability of Windows to deliver productivity with scalability and performance, Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 appeared on the computing industry’s semiannual top 500 list of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, released earlier today.
Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 served as the underlying operating system for a new HPC cluster at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, which is a part of one of the largest financial services institutions in Japan. Its expanding derivatives business will leverage a Windows-based clustering to enhance risk-management practices and reduce simulation times. Mitsubishi UFJ Securities chose the Microsoft Windows platform because of the power, familiarity, and ease-of-development in Microsoft Visual Studio® 2005 and Visual C++®. Its top 500 benchmark on Windows Compute Cluster Server was run on a 448-node IBM BladeCenter HS21 cluster with 1,760 processors, and placed at 193 on the top 500 list. The benchmark result of 6.52 trillion computations per second (teraflops) demonstrates the power of the advanced simulation environment that will enable the pricing, risk management and product development of its derivatives offering. The result marks one of the top supercomputers for the financial services industry.
Windows Compute Cluster Server also served as the underlying operating system for a new HPC cluster at Microsoft’s datacenter in Tukwila, Wash., which ranked 106 in the top 500.
This system achieved 8.99 teraflops on 256 compute nodes and 2,048 processing cores of 64-bit Intel Xeon 5300 quad-core processors, powering Dell PowerEdge 1955 blade servers and Cisco infiniband switches.
To achieve this result, Microsoft ran the benchmark over Windows Compute Cluster Server using a Microsoft Excel 2007 add-in created specifically to drive all the parameters and results required of the top 500 LINPACK benchmark. The Excel 2007 workbook contains all the necessary data needed to perform the LINPACK benchmark. This Excel add-in will be available within 90 days at https://windowshpc.net/default.aspx.
Cross Posted from Dan Fay's Blog (https://blogs.msdn.com/dan\_fay)