Microsoft gets on the grid

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organized by the Association of Computing Machinery and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

At that time, Platform Computing and Microsoft will announce a partnership, said Platform's Zhou. Platform Computing, which does not compete directly against Microsoft, provides grid middleware to schedule the movement of computing jobs among computers and set policies for how to divvy up jobs.

"Microsoft is now wanting to engage with the scientific community in open, interoperable standards. We want to see if we can do technical computing on Windows."

--Tony Hey, corporate vp of technical computing, Microsoft

Although he declined to offer many specifics, Zhou said that the partnership with Microsoft will allow customers to use Windows desktop machines in a computing grid and have Windows clusters to interoperate with Linux servers.

Indeed, interoperating with existing Linux and Unix systems is required for Microsoft to make a bigger impact in the world of high-performance computing, said Microsoft's Hey. As such, Microsoft intends to be a more active participant rather than a "bystander" in standards bodies, such as the Global Grid Forum, where it has been a member for some time.

"Microsoft is now wanting to engage with the scientific community in open, interoperable standards. We want to see if we can do technical computing on Windows," he said, adding that he expected commercial grid software from Microsoft to coexist with open-source products.

Greater maturity in standards development and usage will help drive the use of grids, according to some industry executives and analysts. There are a plethora of grid-related standards, some of which are not fully developed or widely adopted, they said.

"We see grids where Linux was five to seven years ago or where the Internet was 10 years ago," said Ken King, IBM's vice president of grid computing. "We're trying to get to an open approach, and we'll apply pressure points (to grid software vendors) to get them to support standards."

IBM on Monday announced a partnership with grid software company Univa to include Univa's Globus Toolkit software on IBM servers.

The open-source organization Globus Alliance creates implementations of the Globus Toolkit, much the way the Apache Foundation creates open-source products, like its Web server, based on industry standards.

Instead of Globus, Microsoft's Hey is focusing on a data-access standards called OGSA-DAI, for Open Grid Services Architecture Data Access and Integration. The goal of the effort is to build middleware that can access disparate data sources from a grid.

Microsoft's stated focus on data grids, which are more difficult to build than compute grids, is another indicator of its motives, Illuminata's Eunice said. He added that Microsoft is an "incredible outlier" in the high-performance market where there is 25 years experience with Unix and Linux systems.

"It's a way of punting into the future and denigrating what's deeply, widely deployed in grid industry already," he said. "Essentially it's a delaying tactic to delay considering the Globus Toolkit or what have you and punt to something where there really aren't standards."

Johnson & Johnson's Pharmaceutical Research & Development division used proprietary grid software from United Devices to build its computing grid two years ago. But standards support is increasingly important, said Jeffrey Mathers, director of strategy and delivery at the division's technology office.

"The most important standards are the ones that get (packaged application) software to work on grids," Mathers said. "We buy from ISVs (independent software vendors) so it's important how they grid-integrate their software."

[volterwd]

Linux

is going to stay on 'the grid' at universities for a long time... for plenty of reasons...

not at the university of washington

certainly not at the university of washington..

likely at the Evergreen State College though...

tony hay?

to ny... hay? that cant be your real name... what about rob the windows installers? with all respect.. rob, your like my dad

whats with the name changes?

or is microsoft so powerful that they can simply hire people by their name and mold them to spec...

I thought only criminals changed there names...

this has got to be an American conspiracy.. finally, I have a reason to call into coast to coast..

we the people, are the fools..... .?, >?? help me out here President Bush

no no, I understand, we all want to see... thats why.. dam, what a view..

why did I wake up after all

same goes for Dan, Zack, Glen, and Matt

same goes for Dan, Zack, Glen, and Matt; especially

Desktop Grid Solutions

There is a business case for providing Microsoft solutions using existing desktop computers. If you count the computers outside the server room, you?ll end up with a very large Microsoft count. While Microsoft is building a data grid solution to compete against the Linux clusters, Digipede Technologies already has a computational grid solution for all those underutilized desktops. The Digipede Network provides a low TOC because there is no need to buy new hardware, software (such as Excel) is already on the machines, and there is no need to hire consultants to install and configure the system.

Platform Computing also allows desktop cpu-savaging but at a much higher TOC. And although their Microsoft partnering announcement is interesting. Digipede Technologies is already a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.

[Earl Benser]

Use the data grids... fine...

.... but watch MS try to CONTROL the data grids. MS has a core
philospphy that virtually demands that MS dominates any
technology area encountered. And the data grid concept is a
natural for MS domination attempts.

MS really has no choice. Windows is rapidly failing as a revenue
source; people are losing interest in unnecessary upgrades.
Same is thru for MS Office. The rest of the MS software offerings
tends to ignored by most computer users, with corresponding
low input to the MS coffers.

MS needs fertile ground, either for new ideas, or for a corporate
grave