www.gridcomputingplanet.com/news/article.php/1572611
By Paul Shread January 21, 2003 Platform Computing has announced support for HP's new AlphaServer systems. Based on EV7 Alpha processor technology, HP's next-generation AlphaServer "delivers the scalability, reliability and availability required to dramatically improve application performance, making it an ideal system for Platform software solutions," Platform said. Platform said its solutions help enterprises connect, measure, manage and optimize enterprise resources, enabling virtual collaboration and dynamic sharing of IT resources. The combination of HP's EV7-based AlphaServer systems and Platform's distributed and Grid Computing solutions "provides customers with better performance and lower costs for data-intensive enterprise and high-performance technical computing," Platform said. The new EV7 Alpha processor contains all the building blocks of a symmetric-multiprocessing (SMP) system on a single chip to provide improved performance and single system scalability and reliability, the company said. When used in conjunction with Platform software, organizations can "get maximum utilization and efficiency from their IT investments," the company said. "HP's new AlphaServer is a powerful platform for our distributed and Grid Computing software solutions," said Paul Hill, Platform's vice president for business development. "With the combination of HP's EV7 AlphaServer systems and Platform software, organizations can increase the performance, reliability and utilization of their IT investment to solve complex challenges faster and more reliably." EI Announces Prizes and Sponsorship for Grid Wars Parallel Programming Challenge Engineered Intelligence Corp. (EI) has announced prizes and sponsorship for "Grid Wars," the parallel programming challenge in which competing programs written in CxC ("C by C") fight for "survival of the fittest" in a Grid of processors. The Grid Wars Championship takes place in February on an HP Intel Itanium 2 cluster computing system running Linux. In Grid Wars, developers write battle programs using EI's language CxC for parallel programming and upload them into the on-line Grid Wars battlefield, where they compete for prizes and industry recognition. The HP-sponsored prizes include an iPAQ Pocket PC, Photosmart digital camera, and all-in-one printer. Grid Wars will also be promoted in HP's booth (#822) at LinuxWorld in New York City, Jan. 21-24. "Our vision is to make supercomputing available to scientists and engineers who want to focus on their primary science," said EI CEO Matt Oberdorfer. "We are pleased to partner with HP to introduce a broader audience to easy parallel programming. Grid Wars shows the potential of CxC with HP's computing platform." "HP is happy to host Grid Wars because we share with EI the belief that there is a growing interest among scientists and engineers in parallel programming for Itanium-based Linux environments," said Dave McDonnell, Americas Marketing Manager, HP Business Critical Systems. Grid Wars was created to amplify interest and enthusiasm in parallel programming and supercomputing. Those interested in parallel programming - including scientists, engineers, and software developers - can download the Grid Wars creation and training software from www.gridwars.com to easily build battle programs and compete. The site also contains details and further information about rules and conditions for the Grid Wars qualification event and the championship. Grid Forum To Hold First Meeting In Asia/Pacific Region The Global Grid Forum will hold its first meeting in the Asia/Pacific in March. More than 1,000 participants from around the world are expected in Tokyo for GGF7, the 7th Global Grid Forum, March 4-7. The theme for GGF7 is "Grids Around the World," a theme that will be echoed by the popular Plenary Track and the Tutorials. More details can be found at http://www.globalgridforum.org/Meetings/ggf7/default.htm. Keynote addresses will be delivered by Globus Project co-leader Ian Foster and Eng Lim Goh, Chief Technology Officer, SGI. Plenary Track Panel sessions will include Grid Applications Updates, including presentations (some still to be confirmed) on: Coupled Biological and Ocean Modeling; The Instrumented Oil Field; Fire Propagation Prediction; Medical services on the Grid; e-utilities on the Grid; Industrial simulations on the Grid; Agriculture applications on Grids; and Earthquake applications on Grids. Grid Technology Updates will include panel discussions on: OSGA Implementation Status and Experiences; Grids Today - What is REAL?; and Visualization on the Grid. A special panel session will be held on "The State of Grids, Hype versus Reality, and the Role of GGF," in cooperation with Tabor Communications. For information the 11 Tutorials on Grid technologies and critical topics (1/2 day each), see http://www.globalgridforum.org/Meetings/ggf7/tutorials.htm. The GGF7 Meeting will take place at the Keio Plaza Intercontinental Hotel in Tokyo. A special GGF7 Hotel rate has been established for those booking through the GGF7 Registration Web site. Andrew Chien Joins SDSC/NPACI Strategic Advisors Team San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) and National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (NPACI) Director Fran Berman has named Andrew Chien of UC San Diego to serve on her team of Strategic Advisors. He joins half a dozen distinguished scientists who are helping to provide regular guidance on various topics of interest to both SDSC and NPACI. Chien has just returned to full-time faculty status at UCSD from a two-year leave during which he founded Entropia, Inc., a leading Grid software company focusing on desktop Grids. "I am delighted that Andrew Chien will be participating more actively at SDSC and believe that we will benefit greatly from his expertise," said Berman. "Andrew is a pioneer in high-performance and Grid computing and his experience in the commercial world with Entropia has given him a unique and important perspective." Chien holds the Science Applications International Corporation Professorship of Computer Science and Engineering at UCSD, and he is also chief technology officer of Entropia and an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois Department of Computer Science. He is the author of more than 80 publications in the areas of Grids, system software, compilers, networks, and computer architecture of high-performance systems. He obtained the Sc.D. degree in computer science from MIT in 1990 and spent eight years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a professor in computer science and a senior research scientist with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. At UCSD, he leads the Concurrent Systems Architecture Group. He is a member of the Steering Group of the Global Grid Forum. "It's great to be a strategic advisor for SDSC and NPACI," Chien says. "These organizations are critical leaders at the intersection of the computer and computational science communities. As computing continues to transform science, and applications continue to transform computing, it is energizing to be involved in SDSC and NPACI." The other current members of Berman's team of Strategic Advisors are Helen Berman (no relation to Fran) of Rutgers University; Tom DeFanti of the University of Illinois, Chicago; Ed Lazowska of the University of Washington; Cherri Pancake of Oregon State University; Rick Stevens of Argonne National Laboratory; and John Wooley of UCSD.
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