23 September 2008

High-performance computing has been one of the highest-growth IT markets over the past five years, and Microsoft has made significant advancements in products targeted for the HPC market

Earl Joseph, HPC Program Vice President, IDC Microsoft has released its Windows HPC Server 2008 to manufacturing, giving Wall Street firms a scalable high-performance computing (HPC) solution.

The launch was announced during the 2008 High Performance on Wall Street conference where Bill Laing, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Windows Server and Solutions division, discussed how financial services firms are increasingly turning to HPC resources to conduct real-time and intra-day risk analysis in response to the turbulent market environment. Windows HPC Server 2008 is based on Windows Server 2008, and is the successor to Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003.

“Companies have to be more efficient than ever with IT resources, but need to maintain their position in a competitive market place. They require HPC solutions that deploy quickly, integrate in a heterogeneous environment and scale from workstation to cluster,” said Laing. “The launch of Windows HPC Server 2008 is just another step in our vision to drive HPC mainstream.”

In his keynote speech, Laing also noted that the company’s HPC vision goes beyond traditional HPC workloads to bring the value of an integrated HPC solution and a productive development environment to customers for whom high-performance computing has been out of reach in the past.

“IDC research shows that high-performance computing has been one of the highest-growth IT markets over the past five years,” said Earl Joseph, HPC program vice president at IDC. “Microsoft has made significant advancements in its products targeted for the HPC market, especially with the launch of Windows HPC Server 2008.”

Close to 100 companies in various industries, including Lloyds TSB Bank, participated in early evaluation and feedback programmes during the development of the server, while Morgan Stanley worked closely with Microsoft on its development.

“At Morgan Stanley, we create and develop models and systems designed to enhance our securities and investment banking businesses,” said Jay Dweck, global head of strategies and technology for the Institutional Securities Group at Morgan Stanley. “We are closely evaluating Microsoft’s Windows HPC Server 2008 to provide us with the ability to maintain our competitive edge.”

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