Features:

INTERVIEW WITH PHIL FRAHER, COO, VISUAL NUMERICS
By Tim Curns, Assistant Editor, HPCwire

HPCwire: With so much expansion and many developing partnerships in the data analytics space lately, what's next for Visual Numerics?

PHIL FRAHER: Visual Numerics sees the next big phase in business analytics to be predictive analysis. We bring 30 years of sophisticated analytical tools to this market to fulfill the need for deep analytics in the business arena. Now that organizations have access to more and more data, the need for easy-to-use advanced analytic tools is growing rapidly. Existing business intelligence solutions will be able to leverage the type of numerical analysis capabilities Visual Numerics can bring to that space. We offer this market time-tested development tools with a broad range of functionality built in the most popular languages, including Java, C/C++ and Fortran.

HPC: How are customers within the HPC market leveraging your solutions?

PF: Visual Numerics' customers in the HPC space have been leveraging our IMSL Fortran Numerical Libraries for over 30 years for their deep computing needs such as weather mapping and forecasting. Fortran remains the prevailing language in this space and we are committed to providing the most advanced routines for this market as seen by our release earlier this year of our IMSL Fortran Numerical Library version 5.0.

HPC: What is the latest trend in Super Computing?

PF: Visual Numerics sees two major trends, one in the area of Grid computing and the other, which can be ultimately derived from the latter, is Web services. The long-term vision of what this means for numerical analysis companies such as Visual Numerics is the ability to deliver advanced analytics in an on-demand computing environment. Visual Numerics is heavily researching the advancement of Web services in the future computing environment and the need for analytic capabilities as the engine to make this vision a reality.

HPC: What are you announcing at SC2003? Why is this announcement important to HP Users?

PF: Visual Numerics Inc, a leading provider of numerical analysis and visualization software, announced that the company will port its IMSL Numerical Libraries to HP Integrity servers and HP workstations, which use Intel's flagship 64-bit Itanium 2 chip for the HPC and Linux markets. The IMSL Libraries powered by Itanium 2 on RedHat Linux and the Intel C and Fortran compilers will provide HP users with industry-standard mathematics and statistics algorithms on one of the most advanced computing platforms available.

The combination of the industry-standard IMSL Libraries with an Itanium 2-based HP system running on a Linux OS will provide a critical foundation for performing complex computations in the scientific, life sciences, aerospace, investment, finance, government,and engineering markets. Its 64-bit architecture enhances performance by addressing vastly more memory than traditional 32-bit PC architectures and enabling computation of more complex problems. In addition, Linux is a platform well suited for research, modeling, design and visualization technologies.

HPC: What is Visual Numerics demonstrating at SC2003?

PF: Visual Numerics is demonstrating its IMSL Numerical Libraries and its advanced visualization product, PV-WAVE, including new functionality for its Java and C libraries and new features of PV-WAVE, which were announced earlier this year.

The expansion of the Java library, includes new charting capabilities, expanded numerical functionality and a an innovative Education program, called Knowledge in Motion, which demonstrates Visual Numerics commitment to educating next generation computer scientists on the importance of Java in business and scientific computing.

The announcement of PV-WAVE earlier this year brings users with visual data analysis needs deeper functionality in the areas of enhanced visualization, expanded data capabilities, new analysis techniques, including advanced statistical analysis, enhanced performance and language capabilities, and Consulting services and support.

HPC: How can readers get more information about Visual Numerics?

PF: For more information about Visual Numerics, readers can go to our Web site at http://www.vni.com, e-mail us at info@vni.com or call us directly at (925)b807-0138 or Toll Free at (800) 222-4675.