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THREE HP HPC USER GROUPS FORM SINGLE NEW ORGANIZATION

Members of three Hewlett-Packard high performance user groups met September 21-23 in Dallas and ratified a charter establishing a new, single, international user organization. This new organization, HP-CAST, (HP Consortium for Advanced Scientific and Technical computing) will represent members from the original CAST and members from two additional HP high performance user groups - HPCUG (High Performance Computing User Group) and HP2EUG (HP High Performance European User Group.) HP-CAST will work to increase the capabilities of HP solutions for large-scale, scientific and technical computing and will provide guidance to HP on the essential development and support issues for such systems.

"We are pleased that the three HP high-performance user groups have unified to form one, cohesive and influential group," said James R. Kasdorf, president of HP-CAST. "Organizational changes that have occurred within HP in the past two years combined with changes in the focus of high performance technology have brought the three user groups closer together in their missions. Forming a single, effective user organization with a common charter is a logical convergence."

According to Winston Prather, vice president and general manager of HP's High Performance Technical Computing Division, "Collaboration with our customers ensures our continued success and worldwide leadership in the HPC market. HP-CAST will provide a powerful forum for users to relay their experiences with early HP systems, thereby influencing the development of future products." Prather continued, "User organizations also help members gain valuable information by sharing experiences with others dealing with similar situations and challenges."

Membership in HP-CAST is open to institutions that are using HP equipment and are committed to large scale scientific and technical computing. HP-CAST members include institutions with four of the top ten most powerful computing systems in the world. HP-CAST meetings are held twice each year in various locations. Agendas typically include corporate briefings and presentations by HP executives and technical staff (under NDA), and discussions of customer issues related to high-performance technical computing. Please see http://www.hp.com/go/consortium for more information.