Integrating Windows 7 Workstations into High-Performance Computing

By DE Editors

After releasing Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 Beta 1 in November, the Microsoft High Performance Computing Group has been working on improving integration with existing technology. Now Beta 2 is available for download.

According to a blog post by Ryan Waite, product unit manager at Microsoft High Performance Computing Group, Beta 2 includes a number of improvements in scalability, performance, parallelism, integration and interoperability.

Beta 2 now integrates with workstations running Windows 7, allowing organizations to use them as cluster compute nodes, says Waite.

Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 also provides a platform for traditional batch-based and service-oriented interactive HPC applications, Waite says. He says developers can use Visual Studio 2010, which launches next week, to create, debug, and trace HPC applications. Additionally, HPC Services for Excel 2010 can be used to help scale Excel computations to run in parallel on a cluster.

“We have started collaborating with industry-leading HPC management companies like Adaptive Computing, Clustercorp, and Platform Computing to enable hybrid options where Windows HPC Server and Linux work together,” says Waite.  “Whether it’s a dual boot or dynamic cluster, hybrid options help organizations get more out of HPC investments and provide broader access to HPC resources.”

Waite says the final HPC Server 2008 R2 will be shipped later this year.

“It’s an exciting time for high performance computing at Microsoft as we work to put supercomputing power in the hands of those who need it most,” he says.

For more information, visit Microsoft.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.