modular computing

MODULAR COMPUTING

A SEMINAR REPORT

Submitted by

SREEKANTH K T

in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree of

BTECH DEGREE in

COMPUTER SCIENCE & ENGINEERING

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING

COCHIN UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE &

TECHNOLOGY KOCHI - 682022

SEPTEMBER 2010

Division of Computer Engineering School of Engineering

Cochin University of Science & Technology Kochi-682022

_________________________________________________________

CERTIFICATE

Certified that this is a bonafied record of the seminar work titled

Modular ComputingModular ComputingModular ComputingModular Computing

Done by

Sreekanth K TSreekanth K TSreekanth K TSreekanth K T

of VI semester Computer Science & Engineering in the year 2010 in partial

fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Degree of Bachelor of Technology

in Computer Science & Engineering of Cochin University of Science & Technology

Dr.Dr.Dr.Dr. David Peter S David Peter S David Peter S David Peter S Anupama VAnupama VAnupama VAnupama V Head of the Division Seminar Guide

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I thank GOD almighty for guiding me throughout the seminar. I would

like to thank all those who have contributed to the completion of the

seminar and helped me with valuable suggestions for improvement. I am

extremely grateful to Dr. David Peter, HOD, Division of Computer

Science, for providing me with best facilities and atmosphere for the

creative work guidance and encouragement. I would like to thank my

coordinator, Sudheep Elayidom, Sr. Lecturer, Division of Computer

Science, and my guide Anupama V , Lecturer , Division of Computer

Science, SOE for all help and support extend to me. I thank all Staff

members of my college and friends for extending their cooperation during

my seminar. Above all I would like to thank my parents without whose

blessings; I would not have been able to accomplish my goal.

SREEKANTH K T

ABSTRACT

The modular, brick-style technology stands to revolutionize the

way people buy high-performance computers, allowing them to expand

and upgrade only the elements they need for their systems or add new

technologies as they become available. Traditionally, users have had to

buy expensive "one size fits all" systems that either were too much for

their needs or became obsolete quickly and had to be replaced--a costly

and cumbersome process.

Without this modular approach, conventional high-performance

systems often need to be replaced as often as once a year to keep up

with changing needs, new technology or competitive pressures--at a

cost potentially in the millions of dollars for each replacement. This

daunting prospect can limit the progress of research and development

and can hold industries and scientific pursuits back.

Now, technical and creative computer users can have the same

modularity, freedom of choice, and ease of upgrade that people have

long benefited from in assembling and enhancing their home-

entertainment centers.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

1. INTRODUCTION 1

2. PROBLEMS IN IT SCENARIO 2

2.1. COST OF OVER PROVISIONING 2

2.2. COST OF HIGH AVAILABILITY 3

2.3. COST OF TOO MANY PEOPLE DOING LOW LEVEL TASK 4

2.4. EXCESSIVE SERVER MANAGEMENT 4

2.5. EXCESSIVE DEPLOYMENT EXPENSES 4

2.6. EXCESSIVE CABLE MANAGEMENT 5

2.7. COST OF STRANDED RESOURCES 5

3. MODULAR COMPUTING ARCHITECTURE 6

3.1. PROCESSING RESOURCE POOL 7

3.2. STORAGE RESOURCE POOL 7

3.3. NETWORKING RESOURCE POOL 7

3.4. MODULAR COMPUTING SOFTWARE (MCS) 8

3.5. VIRTUAL SERVERS 8

4. ENTERPRISE MODULAR COMPUTING 9

4.1. A NEW COMPUTING PARADIGM 9

4.2. PROCESSING RESOURCE 9

4.3. STORAGE RESOURCE 10

4.4. NETWORKING RESOURCE 10

4.5. MODULAR COMPUTING SOFTWARE 11

4.6. FEWER CABLES TO MANAGE 11

5. BENEFITS OF MODULAR COMPUTING 12

5.1. WINNING THROUGH MODULARITY 12

5.2. DOING MORE WITH LESS 12

5.3. INCREASED AGILITY 12

5.4. REDUCED PEOPLE COST 13

5.5. REDUCED EQUIPMENT COST 14

6. APPLICATIONS 16

6.1. THE EGENERA BLADEFRAME SYSTEM 16

6.2. NUMA FLEX BY SGI 18

6.2.1. ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY 19

6.2.2. EXECUTING ON SGI’S CORPORATE STRATEGY 20

6.2.3. A SUPERIOR ARCHITECTURE 21

6.2.4. WINNING THROUGH MODULARITY 22

6.2.5. THE POWER OF VISUALIZATION 23

7. REMARKS FROM EXPERTS 24

8. CONCLUSION 26

REFERENCES 27

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DIVISION OF COMPUTER SCIENCE ENGINEERING, SOE CUSAT 1

1 INTRODUCTION

I T’s Challenge

In the past three years, the world has changed for information

technology groups. In the late 1990s, the predominant problem was

deploying equipment and software quickly enough to keep up with demand

for computing. While the tech sector boomed on Wall Street, money was no

object. IT budgets swelled and the numbers of computers in data centers

grew exponentially.

Now, in the early 2000s, the picture is very different. IT budgets are

flat down, yet business demand for IT services continues to escalate. This

combination of more demand and constrained budgets has compelled IT

groups to consider new approaches to IT infrastructure, approaches that offer

more flexibility and lower cost of ownership.

The common theme is cost cutting. In today’s world, profits come

less easily than in 1990s. Competitors are more experienced, and

competition is more intense. Corporations that trim costs while providing

great service will prevail over those that can’t.

IT plays a major role in this competitive situation. As competition

becomes more intense, so does the pressure on IT to cut costs and boost

contribution. Now more than ever, large corporations are using their

computing assets as tools to pull ahead of the competition.

The January 13, 2003, issue of Time Magazine provides a great

example of how IT contributes in new ways. Executives at a big-box retailer

were considering dropping a particular brand of chicken from the shelves

because the sales volume was poor. Then the retailer’s data miners found

that customers who bought that brand of chicken also bought large amounts

of other merchandise. The chicken stayed.

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Data mining, online transactions and other new computing demands

require collecting and processing enormous amounts of data. Still, IT

departments are expected to keep up, even with budgets flat down. The

bottom line is that IT will be doing more with less.

Modular Computing can slash costs in IT infrastructure. It enables IT

groups to consolidate equipment, conserving expensive real estate. It offers

the opportunity to migrate applications from expensive proprietary platforms

to more, powerful, and manageable systems.

2 PROBLEMS IN IT SCENARIO

2.1 Cost of Over-Provisioning

As data centers have moved toward servers and away mainframes, IT

has found that some mainframe capabilities weren’t available on servers. A

glaring example is that smaller servers were unable to rapidly obtain more

processing power to accommodate peaks in computing demand.

As applications became more transactional, for example with

customers entering information via the Web, these peaks in computing

demand became more visible. During peak demand, customers saw their

transactions slow down. In situations where these transactions affect the

bottom line, as when customers enter purchases, prompt processing becomes

vital to the business.

As the number of customers using Web services has increased, the

peaks in computing demand became more intense and more frequent.

Consequently, customers more frequently saw declines in performance.

Many data centers have ensured responsiveness to business

requirements by over-provisioning--proactively sizing computing resources

in anticipation of peak demand. In the world of traditional servers and legacy

mainframes, over-provisioning makes sense. In fact, many advisory firms

once recommended over-provisioning as a means of meeting peak demand.

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In the ideal, an alternative to over-provisioning is for IT to obtain

additional resources and bring them online as they see demand increase. In

practice, even after obtaining the hardware, setting it up and configuring the

software can take weeks. Given the real-time nature of the changes in the

computing demand, deployment takes too long, so IT began relying on over-

provisioning.

Over-provisioning has its own disadvantages. It leaves costly

resources idle most of the time. CPU utilization in many data centers range

from 15 to 20 percent for non-mainframe servers, chiefly because of

inability to rapidly reallocate unused resources during off-peak periods. Too

much capital is tied up in under-utilized resources.

To reduce capital costs, IT needs an alternative to over-

provisioning—a means of reallocating resources in minutes rather than in

weeks to accommodate peaks in demand for an application.

2.2 Cost of High Availability

As transaction processing applications have become more common,

more applications have been deemed mission-critical—capable of severely

affecting the business when they slow down or stop running altogether.

Hence the growing need for high availability.

However, high availability traditionally comes with a high price.

Redundant equipment is expensive to buy, maintain, and manage. Additional

software licenses, clustering software, and the professional services needed

to implement a traditional configuration for high availability can cost more

than the initial hardware. As a result, many IT groups continue to rely on

expensive mainframes or RISC servers that use costly switched redundant

connections to provide high availability.

Data centers need high availability, but they don’t need added

expense. They need high availability on equipments that cost less, eliminate

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the need for extra software and professional services, and automate

management.

2.3 Cost of Too Many People Doing Low-Level Tasks

Labor is the largest expense associated with IT. According to Giga

Information Group, labor represents 46% of IT budgets. Finding a way to

move administrators from low level tasks to more productive tasks would

greatly improve an IT department’s ROI.

2.4 Excessive Server Management

Consider a data center with 1000 application servers. Each class of

servers has its own management and provisioning process. To support these

servers, IT needs experts for each class of server. In addition to their unique

knowledge, these experts have many redundant skills. If server management

could be simplified, many of these experts could be shifted to tasks with

higher ROI than managing servers.

2.5 Excessive Deployment Expense

Installing and configuring hardware and software takes much more

administrator time than one would expect. According to Giga Information

Group, “Management of most of large collections of servers is a manually

intensive process. Highly automated management of servers, particularly the

deployment of applications and operating systems images, is more the

exception than the rule…” Moving an application from one server to another

is a delicate task requiring days for a skilled administrator.

Complex deployment also contributes to stranded resources.

2.6 Excessive Cable Management

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A full rack of traditional servers can need over 200 cables to provide

the redundant connections necessary for high availability. Such large

numbers of cables complicate cable management. Giga Information Group

says that, in large data centers that have many reconfigurations, system

administrators can spend up to 25 percent of their time managing cables.

IT needs a means of spending less time on cables.

2.7 Cost of Stranded Resources

Closely related to over-provisioning is the dilemma that causes

stranded resources. For example, suppose that demand for an application

crests, then declines over a period of months. Three factors make data center

management reluctant to harvest computing resources associated with the

application:

• The cost of the administrative time spent removing the resource from

the first application and reconfiguring it for the second.

• The risk of destabilizing the declining application.

• Removing some of the hardware used to process an application is

complex. Without extreme attention to detail, it’s possible to cause the

application to fail.

• The possibility that demand for the declining application may return

after the resources have reassigned. Should demand return, another

costly and risky harvest and reallocation would begin. The resulting

stranded resources remain unused, prematurely forcing IT groups to

buy equipment to deploy new applications and upgrade existing ones.

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3 MODULAR COMPUTING ARCHITECTURE

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3.1 Processing Resource Pool

It contains several diskless processing units. Modular Computing’s

processing resource is based on Intel Architecture (I A) processors because

of their superior price for performance across all business and technical

workloads. Intel server processors range from the 32-bit Intel Xeon

processor MP with strong transaction and I/O processing capabilities, to the

64-bit Itanium processor family with high performance floating point

execution. Because of their robust capabilities and price for performance,

servers based on IA processors are very popular. Processing unit refers to the

smallest chunk of processing power that can be deployed from the

processing resource pool.

3.2 Storage Resource Pool

It contains persistent storage, along with data units, operating

systems and data units. For Modular Computing, the storage resource should

be a Storage Area Network (SAN) or network-attached storage (NAS).Using

SAN or NAS allows a computing facility to concentrate the storage in one

physical location and obtain economies of scale. For example, mirroring,

backup, and offsite archiving processes are much more cost effective on a

SAN or with NAS than when applied to directly attached storage.

In addition, SAN or NAS allows the server’s personality (operating

system, application and data) to be defined completely by the content of

storage. The processing resource can be diskless and anonymous. This

allows any processing unit to be assigned to any application, facilitating the

dynamic nature of logical, rather than physical connections.

3.3 Networking Resource Pool

The networking resources should be a high-speed network accessed

through a high-speed switch. This should provide access to both the LAN

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and, if needed, the internet. Just as storage resources are flexibly allocated to

meet computing demand, networking resources must be scalable so

bandwidth does not hinder performance.

3.4 Modular Computing Software (MCS)

The MCS allocates and deallocates resources from pools to virtual

servers. It also monitors virtual servers to provide band balancing and

failover. It is a vital part of Modular Computing. It obtains resources

resource pools and aggregates them into virtual servers. It also provides an

interface for administrators. Running on a control module, it can oversee

several virtual servers. The MCS also monitors the health of each virtual

server, allocates replacement, and then informs the administrator about the

status of the failed resource

3.5 Virtual Servers

Modular Computing draws elements from pools of computing

resources-processing, storage, and networking. Together, these resources

become virtual server, a computer that can be assigned to run one or more

applications. However, unlike a traditional server, when demand for an

application changes, virtual servers can dynamically be repurposed, in just

minutes.

A virtual server is logically integrated rather than physically

integrated. This distinction is essential for enabling potent management of

the resources. A control module, running Modular Computing software,

manages the creation of virtual servers and facilitates real-time allocation

and deallocation of resources.

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4 ENTERPRISE MODULAR COMPUTING

Many research firms have come to the conclusion that enterprise

computing must change. Gartner Group envisions policy-based computing.

Forrester Research envisions Organic IT. Giga Information Group envisions

modularity and virtualization.

Intel is taking a leadership position in this movement. Intel expects

Modular Computing to play a major role in enterprise computing.

4.1 A New Computing Paradigm

Modular Computing relies on a new paradigm for computers.

Modular Computing draws elements from pools of computing resources-

processing, storage, and networking. Together, these resources become

virtual server, a computer that can be assigned to run one or more

applications. However, unlike a traditional server, when demand for an

application changes, virtual servers can dynamically be repurposed, in just

minutes.

A virtual server is logically integrated rather than physically

integrated. This distinction is essential for enabling potent management of

the resources. A control module, running Modular Computing software,

manages the creation of virtual servers and facilitates real-time allocation

and deallocation of resources.

4.2 Processing Resource

Modular Computing’s processing resource is based on Intel

Architecture (I A) processors because of their superior price for performance

across all business and technical workloads. Intel server processors range

from the 32-bit Intel Xeon processor MP with strong transaction and I/O

processing capabilities, to the 64-bit Itanium processor family with high

performance floating point execution. Because of their robust capabilities

MODULAR COMPUTING


and price for performance, servers based on IA processors are very popular.

Processing unit refers to the smallest chunk of processing power that can be

deployed from the processing resource pool. For example, if the processing

resource pool consists of 4-way SMPs, a processing unit is a 4-way SMP.

4.3 Storage Resource

For Modular Computing, the storage resource should be a Storage

Area Network (SAN) or network-attached storage (NAS).Using SAN or

NAS allows a computing facility to concentrate the storage in one physical

location and obtain economies of scale. For example, mirroring, backup, and

offsite archiving processes are much more cost effective on a SAN or with

NAS than when applied to directly attached storage.

In addition, SAN or NAS allows the server’s personality (operating

system, application and data) to be defined completely by the content of

storage. The processing resource can be diskless and anonymous. This

allows any processing unit to be assigned to any application, facilitating the

dynamic nature of logical, rather than physical connections. If storage were

directly attached to the processing resource, the personality would follow the

processing resource, making it less suitable for use with a different

application. If a virtual server consumes its storage resource, the Modular

Computing software automatically allocates another unit of storage to the

server.

4.4 Networking Resource

The networking resources should be a high-speed network accessed

through a high-speed switch. This should provide access to both the LAN

and, if needed, the internet. Just as storage resources are flexibly allocated to

meet computing demand, networking resources must be scalable so

bandwidth does not hinder performance.

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4.5 Modular Computing Software

The Modular Computing software (MCS) is a vital part of Modular

Computing. It obtains resources resource pools and aggregates them into

virtual servers. It also provides an interface for administrators. Running on a

control module, it can oversee several virtual servers. The MCS also

monitors the health of each virtual server, allocates replacement, and then

informs the administrator about the status of the failed resource.

4.6 Fewer cables to manage

To facilitate expansion and maintenance, the processing and

networking resources, along with the control modules, could be mounted in

the same rack If this rack provides a high speed interconnect, it can reduce

the number of cables from more than two hundred to a mere handful. Two

cables from redundant switches replace the NIC cables for all servers. All

the virtual servers access the storage resource through just two cables. And a

forest of KVM cables is eliminated by providing an administrator interface

across the network.

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5 BENEFITS OF MODULAR COMPUTING

Modular Computing increases agility, while reducing equipment and

people costs.

5.1 Winning through Modularity

As Janet Matsuda, SGI's director of Graphics Product Marketing,

says: "Modularity offers both savings and scalability so that customers don't

waste their money on what they don't want and can spend it on what they do

want."

Debra Goldfarb, group vice president at analyst firm IDC, agrees:

"Modular computing empowers end users to build the kind of environment

that they need not only today but over time.

5.2 Doing More With Less

To keep up with computing demand while operating within restricted

budgets, IT must find ways to optimally use computing resources and reduce

people costs. There are many areas of improvement.

5.3 Increased Agility

Changes in computing demand need no longer cause panic. The

Modular Computing software (MCS) can monitor the status of virtual

servers in real time. As demand for an application changes, the MCS can

adjust the number of virtual servers to match, in minutes instead of weeks.

This real-time load balancing prevents applications from slowing down for

long periods. The users of the applications don’t suffer lengthy response

times associated with overloaded servers.

Equipment failure no longer takes applications offline. When the

MCS detects a failure in the equipment allocated to a virtual server, the MCS

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logically swaps out the failed equipment, replacing it with resources from

the pool within minutes. Applications keep running.

Because this failover capability is automatic and fast, it enables

administrators to extend failover coverage beyond mission-critical

applications to all applications running in the Modular Computing

environment.

Suppose demand grows for many applications, threatening to

regularly consume all of one of the resource pools. Rather than purchasing

an extensive, traditional server, IT purchases only the resources needed

(processing units, storage units, or network capacity) and adds them to the

resource pools. The MCS takes care of deployment in minutes as demand

fluctuates.

5.4 Reduced People Costs

With traditional, physically integrated servers, equipment failure

often means an administrator needs to visit the rack immediately to make

replacements. Each such visit is time consuming and costly. Rack visits

become rare with Modular Computing.

The Modular Computing software (MCS) acts automatically. It uses

parameters set by administrators to govern resource distribution. Once the

administrator has set the parameters, the software can balance loads or

invoke failover procedures without human intervention, in minutes.

In addition, because adding resources to a Modular Computing

environment is so easy, substantially less administrator time is spent on

configuration and setup.

Management, too, becomes easier. All applications running in a

Modular Computing environment are monitored by the Modular Computing

software. Compare this to a collection of disparate, physically integrated

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servers, where each server class needs unique management tools. Reducing

the number of management tools means fewer specialized experts.

Consequently, IT management can move people from administrative

duties to activities with higher ROI, such as planning or application

development.

5.5 Reduced Equipment Costs

All applications running in a Modular Computing environment share

the same resource pools. In other words, the entire collection of virtual

servers draws load- balancing or failover resources from the same resource

pools. In contrast, with traditional computing, each mission-critical

application needs spare equipment standing by for failover or load

balancing.

With Modular Computing, a little spare resource protects all

applications. Because less resource can do the job, utilization of resources is

higher.

A related benefit of Modular Computing is the absence of stranded

resources. The MCS harvests under-utilized resources automatically.

Modular Computing helps IT do more with less. By increasing utilization of

computing resources, Modular Computing holds down capital expenditures.

By freeing administrators from tasks such as load balancing and deployment

of hardware, it makes them available for other tasks, with higher ROI.

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6 APPLICATIONS

6.1 The Egenera BladeFrame system

The Egenera BladeFrame system consists of Modular Computing

software, connections for SAN or NAS and IP networking, and as many as

24 virtual servers based on Intel processors.

The BladeFrame provides a pool of up to 96 Intel processors,

deployable entirely through software, with no physical intervention. The

system components are listed in the following table.

Components and Description

Processing Blade: 2-way or 4-way, diskless, symmetric multiprocessors

(SMP5) using Intel processors. Each virtual server uses one Processing

Blade. The BladeFrame system can contain as many as 24 Processing

Blades.

Control Blade: This is the control module for the BladeFrame system. It

runs the Modular Computing software and provides security for the

Processing Blades. To ensure high availability, each BladeFrame system has

two Control Blades.

Switch Blade: This is the networking resource for the BladeFrame system. It

provides communication with the SAN or NAS and the IP network. To

ensure high availability, each BladeFrame system has two Switch Blades.

BladePlane: High-speed interconnect. Enables communication between

components within the BladeFrame system.

PAN Manager: Modular Computing software (MCS) to configure virtual

servers and govern failover and load balancing. Administrators can use the

browser-based interface or can write scripts to provide control through a

command- line interface.

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The system resides in a 24x30x84-inch chassis containing a

redundant BladePlane, two Control Blades, two Switch Blades, and up to 24

Processing Blades. The BladeFrame system is a processing resource for the

data center. The Processing Blades are diskless, accessing the data center’s

storage area network (SAN) or network attached storage (NAS) for storage

resources, software, and data.

Separating processing resource from storage lets the processing

resource remain anonymous—not permanently dedicated to any particular

application(s). Anonymity facilitates reallocating Processing Blades between

the processing resource pool and virtual servers. Egenera calls this diskless

architecture a Processing Area Network, or PAN, and the management

software is called PAN Manager.

This PAN architecture facilities use of processing resources. As

demand for a particular application declines, PAN Manager software reduces

the number of virtual servers assigned to that application, making their

resources available for other applications. PAN Manager shifts resources

automatically, in minutes. By rapidly distributing resources to where they

are needed, PAN architecture eliminates costly over-provisioning. Should a

piece of equipment fail, PAN Manager detects the failure, notifies the

administrator, and allocates a replacement resource, all within minutes.

The BladeFrame system greatly reduces cable count. With traditional

architecture, each single-processor server can require more than five cables,

without providing redundancy. With the BladeFrame, as many as 96 Intel

processors can be redundantly connected to the storage and IP networks with

as few as four cables. This huge reduction in cables saves many error-prone

hours during installation, while offering fewer failure points and increased

density of servers. By reducing cable count, the BladeFrame contributes to

higher reliability (because of fewer failure points), more efficient use of

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administrators (by saving cabling time), and less stranded equipment (by

simplifying harvesting and redeployment).

Many benefits of the BladeFrame system derive from the Egenera

PAN Manager software, which provides a single control point for

monitoring and allocating both physical and logical resources. Using PAN

Manager software, administrators can rapidly adjust logical configurations to

service changing demand. Tasks that were once physical and required weeks

are now accomplished through software in minutes.

The hardware and software modules of the BladeFrame system work

together to provide automation and rapid, flexible deployment. The

BladeFrame system saves administrator time associated with cable

management and other deployment issues. It automates harvesting and

reassigning resources, while slashing the cost of high availability.

6.2 NUMAflex by SGI

SGI (NYSE: SGI), known worldwide for providing a broad range of

high-performance computing and advanced graphics solutions, today

announced a technology that promises to help break the "digital ceiling"--the

performance limits that block progress in the rapidly evolving digital

economy and crucial efforts in medicine, science, manufacturing and media.

The modular, brick-style technology--called NUMAflexTM-also stands to

revolutionize the way people buy high-performance computers, allowing

them to expand and upgrade only the elements they need for their systems or

add new technologies as they become available. Traditionally, users have

had to buy expensive "one size fits all" systems that either were too much for

their needs or became obsolete quickly and had to be replaced--a costly and

cumbersome process.

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"This truly is a milestone for the industry and for SGI," said Bob

Bishop, chairman and CEO, SGI. "Not only does this new technology stand

to change the way advanced computer systems are built and used, but its

flexible, cost-effective design means that more complex problems than ever

before can have access to the power of supercomputers."

The first SGI® products to utilize NUMAflex technology--the SGI®

Origin® 3000 series of servers and the SGI® Onyx® 3000 series of

visualization systems-are available immediately. A large number of orders

have been placed by notable clients such as the U.S. Army Engineering

Research Development Center and NASA/Ames Research Center. These

companies have needs for solving such demanding problems such as

financial analytics, crash-test simulation and aircraft design. In addition,

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. has selected the SGI Origin 3400 as the

broadband server for a next-generation entertainment demonstration at

SIGGRAPH 2000.

6.2.1 About the Technology

With NUMAflex technology, each drawer-like module in a system

has a specific function and can be linked, through the patented SGI high-

speed system interconnect, to many other bricks of varying types to create a

fully customized configuration. The same bricks, depending on their number

or configuration, can be used for a continually expanding range of high-

performance computing needs: C-brick (CPU module), P-brick (PCI

expansion), D-brick (disk storage), R-brick (system/memory interconnect),

I-brick (base I/O module), X-brick (XIO expansion) and G-brick

(InfiniteReality® graphics). New brick types will be added to the

NUMAflex modular offering for specialized configurations (e.g., broadband

data streaming) and as new technologies, such as PCI-X and Infiniband,

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enter the market. The systems can also be deployed in clusters or as large

shared-memory systems, depending on users' needs.

Without this modular approach, conventional high-performance

systems often need to be replaced as often as once a year to keep up with

changing needs, new technology or competitive pressures--at a cost

potentially in the millions of dollars for each replacement. This daunting

prospect can limit the progress of research and development and can hold

industries and scientific pursuits back.

"This technology represents a real revolution in thinking," said Jan

Silverman, vice president, Advanced Systems Marketing, SGI. "It's

analogous to when people switched from all-in-one stereo systems at home

to buying components for a home-based theater. Before, you had to throw

out the whole stereo because 8-track died; now you just add the DVD."

6.2.2 Executing on SGI's Corporate Strategy

From its inception, SGI has accepted the challenge of the technical

and creative user communities, working to provide them with the most

advanced computational tools. The new SGI® 3000 family is a bold and

dynamic example of the company's promise to serve these users with

industry-leading, dependable products and services that are second to none

for keeping them ahead of the technology curve and ahead of the

competition.

"SGI's customers--technical and creative computer users-are

continually demanding new products and solutions to help them reach new

heights in their own work," said Bishop. "NUMAflex modular computing is

just the latest success in our effort to meet the needs of these customers and

to help them--and SGI--stay ahead of the competition."

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The new family of SGI® Origin® 3000 series servers and SGI®

Onyx® 3000 series graphics systems makes real the long-held dream of truly

modular computing. Now, technical and creative computer users can have

the same modularity, freedom of choice, and ease of upgrade that people

have long benefited from in assembling and enhancing their home-

entertainment centers. In unprecedented fashion, SGI delivers on the

promise of superior performance, custom configuration, resiliency, and

investment protection.

As Ben Passarelli, SGI's director of Server Product Marketing, says,

"With modular computing, customers can buy precisely what they need,

when they need it, with the confidence that they will be able to add the late-

breaking technologies of the future to what they already have."

6.2.3 A Superior Architecture

The newly announced SGI® 3000 family of systems marks the return

of the company to its time-honored leadership position in the realm of

technical and creative computing. The basis for the 3000 family is

NUMAflexTM technology, SGI's innovative and flexible use of a superior

supercomputer architecture.

As an architecture for high-performance multiprocessor computers,

SGI® NUMA (nonuniform memory access) exceeds the capabilities of the

SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) architecture used in previous generations

of supercomputers. SGI NUMA makes it possible for systems to increase

shared memory as needed to meet the demands of CPU-to-memory

bandwidth whenever additional processors are added to a configuration.

Growing out of a joint project with Stanford University that began more than

10 years ago, SGI NUMA gives technical and creative users superior

scalability and performance. SGI is the only computer manufacturer capable

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of offering third-generation NUMA architecture, leveraging the company's

long expertise in leading-edge computing.

NUMAflex technology takes advantage of the architecture through

modular bricks that add specialized capacities in graphics, central

processing, storage, PCI expansion, or I/O capacity. Even the internal

interconnect is modular, so that large installations can be built from small

ones, one brick at a time.

6.2.4 Winning through Modularity

NUMAflex technology gives technical and creative customers

choices and growth paths never before available. As Janet Matsuda, SGI's

director of Graphics Product Marketing, says: "Modularity offers both

savings and scalability so that customers don't waste their money on what

they don't want and can spend it on what they do want."

Debra Goldfarb, group vice president at analyst firm IDC, agrees:

"Modular computing empowers end users to build the kind of environment

that they need not only today but over time. SGI, with this product, is really

ahead of the curve in the market. We are seeing the [rest of the] industry

absolutely trying to catch up" with SGI.

In addition, SGI Origin 3000 servers and SGI Onyx 3000

visualization systems reflect a return to SGI's core competencies.

"It is very exciting for us to see that SGI is once again really

becoming true to the mission it had years ago, that of leading the industry in

technical computing, " says Goldfarb. "This company has really hit it this

time and [we] believe this is really the right technology at the right point in

time."

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6.2.5 The Power of Visualization

Of course visualization, along with data handling and scalable

architecture, has always been one of SGI's three main core competencies.

The new SGI Onyx 3000 series, which utilizes next-generation

InfiniteReality3TM graphics, will be able to aid users in what Matsuda calls

"their need to understand." Says Matsuda, "You can get powerful

visualization with powerful computing, because your eyes are the widest

channel to the brain. And sometimes you need to give people experiences

you don't want them to have in real life."

A unique feature of InfiniteReality3 is its ability to perform visual

serving, delivering powerful graphics capabilities over a network as needed.

The new SGI Onyx 3000 series systems are also optimized for real-time

simulation, such as in planetariums, Reality Center® facilities, digital media

and geospatial imaging.

A final component of SGI's renewed focus on its customers and what

Passarelli calls "working to our strengths" is SGI's continuing strong

commitment to both MIPS® and IRIX®, which is evidenced by

unprecedented customer demand for the new product line. While SGI sees

long-term strategic value in the company's involvement with the Open

Source community, "We remain fanatically committed to helping our

customers solve their problems in the here and now. For customers on the

leading edge, if you give them more capabilities, more compute power, and

greater visualization, they can do amazing things."

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7 REMARKS FROM EXPERTS

Call it grid computing. Or modular computing. Or policy-based

computing or utility computing. Intel, which is opting for the modular

designation, is preaching distribution of processing power to boost

performance and reliability. Modular computing represents a new paradigm

that requires advances in both software and hardware, according to Intel.

"There (are) a lot of people that associate modular computing (with) blades

and blade form factors. It's important to know this is far more than form

factors and far more than blades," said Abbi Talwalkar, vice president of the

Intel platform products group, in Hillsboro, Ore., during a presentation at the

Intel Developer Forum.

Modular computing, the joining of multiple computing resources, is

an answer for exponential data growth, application and server sprawl, and

dis- aggregation of storage, according to Intel. The concept also is critical in

today's tough economic times, with IT cutbacks, Talwalkar said. Modular

computing is characterized by a growth in hardware clustering and

distributed computing along with software developments such as the

deployment of application servers and the use of Web services for

intersystem communication, he said. "It's really advances in system

management and clustering technology that's going to drive much of the

adoption here," Talwalkar said. Clustering might displace large symmetric

multiprocessing systems over time, he said. Automation, enabling for

dynamic allocation of resources, is probably the "heart" of modular

computing, according to Talwalkar. Automation developments are needed

such as self-healing systems, failover, and dynamic performance

optimization, he said.

Benefits of modular computing include maximization, efficiency,

Internet reliability, and seamless and simplified management, according to

the company. For example, modular computing will maximize use of a

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server that might have 40 percent of its capacity not being used, Talwalkar

said. "Software is going to drive the success of modular computing 100

percent," Talwalker stressed.

One IDF attendee, however, criticized Intel for recently backing away

from plans to produce InfiniBand-based hardware. InfiniBand, said Anil

Vasudeva, president and CEO of research firm Imex Research, of San Jose,

is key to making blade servers function together. InfiniBand is a next-

generation switched-fabric I/O technology. "Intel seems to have done a big

boo boo job on that," Vasudeva said. Talwalkar said that given current

economics, there were "some very difficult decisions to make at Intel in

terms of productizing components."

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8 CONCLUSION

Stretching the IT Dollar

Modular Computing replaces the physical connections between

computing resources with logical connections. Because the connections are

logical. Modular Computing software can monitor and control how virtual

servers use resources.

This software-based monitoring and controlling enables automated

resource management, where the software continuously redistributes

resources according to parameters provided by an administrator. This, along

with simplified server management and reduced cable count, means large

collections of servers need fewer administrators.

Modular Computing uses small amounts of spare resource to provide

failover and load balancing for all applications running in the Modular

Computing environment. This eliminates stranded resources, boosts resource

utilization, and holds down capital expense.

Because Modular Computing is built on IA processors, it offers better

price for performance and ensures a broader choice of software vendors and

software. A larger selection of software can speed application development,

and competition between software vendors can hold down development

costs.

Modular Computing is a concept for the future, hut it is available

now, in products shipping today. It is already proving itself by saving money

for IT.

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REFERENCES

• Forrester Research, Inc., The New Computing Utility.

• Goldman Sachs, IT Spending Survey.

• Giga Information Group, Inc., The Future of the Data Center-

Modularity and Virtualization.

• Gartner, Inc., Budgeting for IT-Average Spending Report.

• www.pcmag.com

• www.pcquest.com

• www.itpapers.com

http://www.pcmag.com/

http://www.pcquest.com/

http://www.itpapers.com/

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