Intel Confronts Cluster Complexity

By Doug Barney

If you’ve read any of our previous items, then you know it’s been a big couple of weeks in the world of clusters. Of course, having the International Supercomputing Conference in Dresden, Germany, recently didn’t exactly slow down clustering news!

Intel (Santa Clara, CA) is taking a broad architectural swipe at clustering with its Intel Cluster Ready program. The idea is to eliminate many of the hassles of setting up a cluster. The Cluster Ready program basically defines how clusters are built so that vendors and users can easily set up clusters using known, workable, and certified configurations.

This is not just about hardware. HPC software vendors can show compatibility with these configurations.

Intel also announced a high-end cabling solution, Intel Connects Cables, which support 10 GbE and Infiniband. The company claims its cables are far lighter than copper, and easier to bend and route. For more, click here.