HIGH PERFORMANCE TECHNICAL COMPUTING AT SUN MICROSYSTEMS

Technology and Products: End-to-End Architectures

Sun offers a full array of technologies to make high performance computing affordable, accessible, and reliable. Our platforms and software are all based on open technologies providing more cost-effective alternatives to traditional proprietary HPTC platforms. Additionally, our commitment to open platforms means that your organization gains the flexibility of a wider selection of third-party applications, and the investment protection that comes with industry standards.

Binary compatibility between all products and generations of products means you can write applications once and run them everywhere, on different sizes of systems and even across different generations of systems. And features like full hardware redundancy, dynamic reconfiguration, and hot-swap system boards provide availability levels previously only found on proprietary mainframes costing millions of dollars.

Technology and Products
Sun has combined the strengths of our scalable, high-performance computer products with our integrated software suite for HPTC, built on Sun's open systems software platform, Sun ONE (Open Network Environment). Sun ONE for HPTC provides complete end-to-end, binary compatible HPTC architecture for bringing customers to the networked technical world. Our product portfolio includes:

Servers »
MAKING HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING AVAILABLE

Today's biggest challenge is to optimize data center efficiency and business productivity. Demand is growing rapidly for host computers that can communicate better with other computers and network components, so complex jobs can run efficiently in parallel.

Sun offers server solutions that scale from rack-mounted, compact form factor to innovative midframe solutions that deliver mainframe-like capability at modest price points, and high-end enterprise servers that scale up to 100 processors in a single cabinet. Additionally, with our clustering solutions, all of these servers can be pooled into massively scalable configurations numbering up to 2048 processors.

Workstations »
BRINGING HIGH PERFORMANCE TO THE DESKTOP

Sun has a long history of technical computing leadership. The first Sun systems, introduced in 1982, were sold to research and educational organizations that pioneered early work in software development, networking, computer-based CAD, and other technical areas.

Sun continues to offer a broad selection of economical workstations that address every need in high performance computing, from zero-maintenance thin clients that are ideal for extending technical computing to broad end user audiences to full-featured workstations that support a variety of graphics display options.

Software »
DELIVERING END-TO-END SOLUTIONS

Sun provides full back-end and front-end solutions that deliver your organization's HPTC applications. For instance, the Sun ONE for HPTC integrated software stack offers the building blocks for developing and implementing high performance computing applications that can be deployed as Web services. It includes a front end, based on a portal for simplifying end user access to technical computing services, plus the back end tools that enable cluster and Grid Computing.

Our software solutions for HPTC are based on the proven Solaris Operating Environment and Sun^TM Grid Engine that help you harness available computing resources, wherever they are.

Storage »
BREAKING GROUND IN HIGH PERFORMANCE STORAGE

Sun offers dependable storage solutions based on proven technology. Our factory-integrated, pre-tested systems reduce time to solution; the modular, field-replaceable units enable you to upgrade quickly and easily without taking the system offline; and redundant I/O paths improve reliability.

Our storage systems are designed to offer linear scalability, delivering performance levels that remain consistent as capacity is increased. At the core of Sun's storage systems, our storage arrays are built for the data-intensive, high-bandwidth applications that typify high performance computing. Additionally, we offer high-performance file management systems that eliminate the bottlenecks associated with large files.

Visualization »
VISUALIZING THE RESULTS

Sun's open platforms lower the barriers to affordable visualization. We offer platforms that support a wide range of requirements, from single-channel to multi-channel displays.

For instance, Sun's new Personal Visualization System brings high-end visualization capabilities and sophisticated texture mapping to workstations. We provide software utilities that deliver powerful graphics, and back our solutions up with a range of economical hardware platforms for all budget levels and performance requirements. Our Java3D^TM and Java Advanced Imaging initiatives, along with our support for OpenGL, allow the development of high-quality, scalable, platform-independent graphics, scientific visualization, and immersive virtual reality applications.

For more information, please visit: http://www.sun.com/hpc.