Microsoft Reshuffles HPC Organization, Azure Cloud Looms Large

By Michael Feldman

July 27, 2011

For the past few months, there have been rumors of a substantial reorganization in Microsoft’s high performance computing group. Indeed this has happened. Kyril Faenov, who led the Technical Computing Group, is now in an advisory role, focusing on long-term planning centered around their HPC/technical computing strategy. In his new position, Faenov answers directly to Satya Nadella, the president of Microsoft’s Servers and Tools Business (STB), which encompasses Windows Server, SQL Server, Visual Studio, System Center and the Windows Azure Platform.

In that sense at least, HPC has become more of a first-class citizen at Microsoft. But the HPC business itself, now under the direction of Ryan Waite, the general manager for High Performance Computing at Microsoft, has been folded into the Server and Cloud Division, which itself is under the purview of Nadella’s STB. The integration of HPC into the server-cloud orbit reflects the company’s overarching strategy to use the Windows Azure cloud platform as the basis for its enterprise business.

But according to Waite, that doesn’t mean they’re abandoning the stand-alone Windows HPC Server offering. We asked him to elaborate on the direction of high performance computing at Microsoft, and although some of the responses lacked specifics, it is clear Microsoft is looking to Azure as a way to re-energize its HPC business.

HPCwire: Has there been an evolution of thinking with regard to how Microsoft intends to deliver high performance computing to customers since the company first entered the HPC market? If so, explain what that vision is today.

Ryan Waite: Microsoft’s commitment to high performance computing remains strong as the industry’s needs evolve. Since we started we’ve focused on democratizing the HPC market, that is, growing the HPC market by making HPC solutions easier to use. What has evolved is how we can help our community with democratization. I believe the emergence of cloud support for HPC workloads will reduce the cost and complexity of high performance computing for what has been called the “missing middle.” These are the organizations that have tough computational challenges to solve but don’t have the capital, access, expertise or desire to manage their own HPC clusters.

HPCwire: What is the roadmap for the Windows HPC Server product?

Waite: Central to our future strategy is support for hybrid environments. These are environments where some HPC computing is running on-premise and some computing is running in the cloud. We will support customers that run all their computing on-premise or run all of their computing in the cloud but in the short term, hybrid models will dominate. We’ve also seen the emergence of a new HPC workload, the data intensive or “big data” workload. Using LINQ to HPC customers can do data-intensive computing using the popular LINQ programming model on Windows HPC Server.

HPCwire: What other technical computing offerings are key to Microsoft’s HPC strategy?

Waite: On June 29th, Microsoft announced the availability of Windows HPC Server 2008 R2 SP2, which provides customers a comprehensive HPC platform. This latest release provides our customers with a number of new tools that focus on three main areas that are key to Microsoft’s HPC strategy, hybrid deployments with Windows Azure, new scenarios for on-premises clustering and the availability of the LINQ to HPC beta.

HPCwire: More specifically, how are you integrating HPC capabilities into Windows Azure?

Waite: Microsoft has put a strong emphasis on HPC in the cloud, as demonstrated by our latest HPC release, and we will do more over the next year in order to put supercomputing resources within reach of every business, organization, and user who needs them. Windows HPC Server 2008 R2’s support for Windows Azure includes:

  • A single set of management tools for both local compute nodes and Windows Azure compute instances.
  • Integration with Windows Azure APIs that makes provisioning compute instances in Windows Azure simple.
  • A tuned MPI stack for the Windows Azure network.
  • Support for Windows Azure VM role preview.
  • Automatic configuration of the Windows Azure Connect preview to allow Windows Azure based applications to reach back to enterprise file servers and license servers using a virtual private network connection.

HPCwire: Will Microsoft continue to maintain standalone technical computing offerings alongside the Windows Azure platform? If so, do you believe most of Microsoft’s HPC business will migrate toward Azure?

Waite: We’re committed to the on-premise business and will offer it alongside a fully cloud-based solution. Some of our customers require an on-premise solution. Other customers, particularly HPC ISVs, are considering what it means to offer cloud-based versions of their applications, and for them we will provide an Azure-based solution. We are positioning ourselves for success as more and more customers run their simulations in the cloud.

HPCwire: How would you characterize the reorganization of the technical computing group at Microsoft?

Waite: We reorganized this month to better support HPC Server. My HPC engineering team is now part of the Server and Cloud Division and this change allows better synergy with the Windows Server and Windows Azure teams. This change allows us to go bigger as we drive on-premises growth while taking an increased emphasis on helping existing and new customers harness the power of cloud computing.

HPCwire: Are there more changes ahead?

Waite: I love working in such a fast moving market. We will continue to adjust our strategy as both the traditional HPC market and the cloud-based HPC market evolve. As we move into the second half of the year, we are excited about what Microsoft is offering the HPC community and our next release of Windows HPC Server.

Subscribe to HPCwire's Weekly Update!

Be the most informed person in the room! Stay ahead of the tech trends with industry updates delivered to you every week!

Q&A with Nvidia’s Chief of DGX Systems on the DGX-GB200 Rack-scale System

March 27, 2024

Pictures of Nvidia's new flagship mega-server, the DGX GB200, on the GTC show floor got favorable reactions on social media for the sheer amount of computing power it brings to artificial intelligence.  Nvidia's DGX Read more…

Call for Participation in Workshop on Potential NSF CISE Quantum Initiative

March 26, 2024

Editor’s Note: Next month there will be a workshop to discuss what a quantum initiative led by NSF’s Computer, Information Science and Engineering (CISE) directorate could entail. The details are posted below in a Ca Read more…

Waseda U. Researchers Reports New Quantum Algorithm for Speeding Optimization

March 25, 2024

Optimization problems cover a wide range of applications and are often cited as good candidates for quantum computing. However, the execution time for constrained combinatorial optimization applications on quantum device Read more…

NVLink: Faster Interconnects and Switches to Help Relieve Data Bottlenecks

March 25, 2024

Nvidia’s new Blackwell architecture may have stolen the show this week at the GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, California. But an emerging bottleneck at the network layer threatens to make bigger and brawnier pro Read more…

Who is David Blackwell?

March 22, 2024

During GTC24, co-founder and president of NVIDIA Jensen Huang unveiled the Blackwell GPU. This GPU itself is heavily optimized for AI work, boasting 192GB of HBM3E memory as well as the the ability to train 1 trillion pa Read more…

Nvidia Appoints Andy Grant as EMEA Director of Supercomputing, Higher Education, and AI

March 22, 2024

Nvidia recently appointed Andy Grant as Director, Supercomputing, Higher Education, and AI for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). With over 25 years of high-performance computing (HPC) experience, Grant brings a Read more…

Q&A with Nvidia’s Chief of DGX Systems on the DGX-GB200 Rack-scale System

March 27, 2024

Pictures of Nvidia's new flagship mega-server, the DGX GB200, on the GTC show floor got favorable reactions on social media for the sheer amount of computing po Read more…

NVLink: Faster Interconnects and Switches to Help Relieve Data Bottlenecks

March 25, 2024

Nvidia’s new Blackwell architecture may have stolen the show this week at the GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, California. But an emerging bottleneck at Read more…

Who is David Blackwell?

March 22, 2024

During GTC24, co-founder and president of NVIDIA Jensen Huang unveiled the Blackwell GPU. This GPU itself is heavily optimized for AI work, boasting 192GB of HB Read more…

Nvidia Looks to Accelerate GenAI Adoption with NIM

March 19, 2024

Today at the GPU Technology Conference, Nvidia launched a new offering aimed at helping customers quickly deploy their generative AI applications in a secure, s Read more…

The Generative AI Future Is Now, Nvidia’s Huang Says

March 19, 2024

We are in the early days of a transformative shift in how business gets done thanks to the advent of generative AI, according to Nvidia CEO and cofounder Jensen Read more…

Nvidia’s New Blackwell GPU Can Train AI Models with Trillions of Parameters

March 18, 2024

Nvidia's latest and fastest GPU, codenamed Blackwell, is here and will underpin the company's AI plans this year. The chip offers performance improvements from Read more…

Nvidia Showcases Quantum Cloud, Expanding Quantum Portfolio at GTC24

March 18, 2024

Nvidia’s barrage of quantum news at GTC24 this week includes new products, signature collaborations, and a new Nvidia Quantum Cloud for quantum developers. Wh Read more…

Houston We Have a Solution: Addressing the HPC and Tech Talent Gap

March 15, 2024

Generations of Houstonian teachers, counselors, and parents have either worked in the aerospace industry or know people who do - the prospect of entering the fi Read more…

Alibaba Shuts Down its Quantum Computing Effort

November 30, 2023

In case you missed it, China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba has shut down its quantum computing research effort. It’s not entirely clear what drove the change. Read more…

Nvidia H100: Are 550,000 GPUs Enough for This Year?

August 17, 2023

The GPU Squeeze continues to place a premium on Nvidia H100 GPUs. In a recent Financial Times article, Nvidia reports that it expects to ship 550,000 of its lat Read more…

Shutterstock 1285747942

AMD’s Horsepower-packed MI300X GPU Beats Nvidia’s Upcoming H200

December 7, 2023

AMD and Nvidia are locked in an AI performance battle – much like the gaming GPU performance clash the companies have waged for decades. AMD has claimed it Read more…

DoD Takes a Long View of Quantum Computing

December 19, 2023

Given the large sums tied to expensive weapon systems – think $100-million-plus per F-35 fighter – it’s easy to forget the U.S. Department of Defense is a Read more…

Synopsys Eats Ansys: Does HPC Get Indigestion?

February 8, 2024

Recently, it was announced that Synopsys is buying HPC tool developer Ansys. Started in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1970 as Swanson Analysis Systems, Inc. (SASI) by John Swanson (and eventually renamed), Ansys serves the CAE (Computer Aided Engineering)/multiphysics engineering simulation market. Read more…

Choosing the Right GPU for LLM Inference and Training

December 11, 2023

Accelerating the training and inference processes of deep learning models is crucial for unleashing their true potential and NVIDIA GPUs have emerged as a game- Read more…

Intel’s Server and PC Chip Development Will Blur After 2025

January 15, 2024

Intel's dealing with much more than chip rivals breathing down its neck; it is simultaneously integrating a bevy of new technologies such as chiplets, artificia Read more…

Baidu Exits Quantum, Closely Following Alibaba’s Earlier Move

January 5, 2024

Reuters reported this week that Baidu, China’s giant e-commerce and services provider, is exiting the quantum computing development arena. Reuters reported � Read more…

Leading Solution Providers

Contributors

Comparing NVIDIA A100 and NVIDIA L40S: Which GPU is Ideal for AI and Graphics-Intensive Workloads?

October 30, 2023

With long lead times for the NVIDIA H100 and A100 GPUs, many organizations are looking at the new NVIDIA L40S GPU, which it’s a new GPU optimized for AI and g Read more…

Shutterstock 1179408610

Google Addresses the Mysteries of Its Hypercomputer 

December 28, 2023

When Google launched its Hypercomputer earlier this month (December 2023), the first reaction was, "Say what?" It turns out that the Hypercomputer is Google's t Read more…

AMD MI3000A

How AMD May Get Across the CUDA Moat

October 5, 2023

When discussing GenAI, the term "GPU" almost always enters the conversation and the topic often moves toward performance and access. Interestingly, the word "GPU" is assumed to mean "Nvidia" products. (As an aside, the popular Nvidia hardware used in GenAI are not technically... Read more…

Shutterstock 1606064203

Meta’s Zuckerberg Puts Its AI Future in the Hands of 600,000 GPUs

January 25, 2024

In under two minutes, Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, laid out the company's AI plans, which included a plan to build an artificial intelligence system with the eq Read more…

Google Introduces ‘Hypercomputer’ to Its AI Infrastructure

December 11, 2023

Google ran out of monikers to describe its new AI system released on December 7. Supercomputer perhaps wasn't an apt description, so it settled on Hypercomputer Read more…

China Is All In on a RISC-V Future

January 8, 2024

The state of RISC-V in China was discussed in a recent report released by the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. The report, entitled "E Read more…

Intel Won’t Have a Xeon Max Chip with New Emerald Rapids CPU

December 14, 2023

As expected, Intel officially announced its 5th generation Xeon server chips codenamed Emerald Rapids at an event in New York City, where the focus was really o Read more…

IBM Quantum Summit: Two New QPUs, Upgraded Qiskit, 10-year Roadmap and More

December 4, 2023

IBM kicks off its annual Quantum Summit today and will announce a broad range of advances including its much-anticipated 1121-qubit Condor QPU, a smaller 133-qu Read more…

  • arrow
  • Click Here for More Headlines
  • arrow
HPCwire