Grid computing gets push from Sun, IBM and Compaq

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By Todd R. Weiss

(IDG) -- The grid computing playing field, which already has caught the attention of IBM and Sun Microsystems Inc., now has another player: Compaq Computer Corp.

In separate announcements, all three companies last week unveiled news about their grid computing programs, which allow groups of computers to be harnessed together to create large amounts of computing power for research, development and other high-intensity needs.

Sun said last week that it has released a beta version of its new Sun Grid Engine Enterprise Edition 5.3 software, designed to make it easier for computer grids to be linked together within a company.

Meanwhile, IBM announced that it's helping to create a life sciences grid computing system in North Carolina that will be used for genomic research. Also, Compaq announced the creation of its own grid-computing program.

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Sun's new software release, available by a free download from Sun, is aimed at providing improved control and resource allocation management when using grid systems. The software follows the release last year of Sun's original grid engine software and technologies.

Peter Jeffcock, group marketing manager for Sun's technical market products, said the enterprise edition of the grid software will help further refine setup and operations for companies setting up "campus grid" systems, where they're linking the computer resources of several laboratories within their own companies.

Since the original grid engine software was made available last year, he said, approximately 12,000 downloads have been distributed, with more than 118,000 CPUs now being managed in grids using the software.

The new beta enterprise edition is the next evolutionary step in the grid computing strategy for Sun, Jeffcock said.

In its announcement, IBM said it will be working with the nonprofit group MCNC in Research Triangle Park, N.C., to create a grid computing system for life sciences research. Called the North Carolina Bioinformatics Grid, the project involves more than 60 groups, including businesses, universities and biomedical research firms. The announcement comes just three months after the company entered the fledgling grid computing industry (see "IBM unveils grid computing concept for future IT," link below).

While a little late to the field, Compaq said it is creating a worldwide Grid Computing Solutions Program to provide software, hardware and support to customers seeking grid computing systems.

The company said it will conduct the program through an alliance with Platform Computing Inc., using that company's Globus Toolkit and Grid Suite products, along with Compaq Tru64 Unix AlphaServer systems and ProLiant servers running Linux.

"Grid computing is emerging as a major new capability for modern, high-performance technical computing," Bill Blake, vice president of Compaq's High Performance Technical Computing group, said in a statement. "Grid computing makes possible new and previously unimagined collaborations and applications."

Compaq also said it has created an Advanced Center for the Study of Grid Computing in Nashua, N.H., to continue to develop the technology.