HPCwire: The Interconnect Driven Vendor

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October 27, 2006

The Interconnect Driven Vendor

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As the commercial world continues to incorporate high performance computing technology into the enterprise, a demand is being created for much more sophisticated scalable computing solutions. Virtualization capability and RAS (Reliability, Availability and Serviceability) features are increasingly being seen as essential components for all high-end computing. Up until recently these capabilities were only offered in mainframes and big Linux or UNIX boxes. Today new companies are emerging that incorporate these features into scalable systems with commodity-based parts.

Liquid Computing Corporation is one such company. Next Monday, they are planning to announce the general availability of their new scalable computing system, LiquidIQ. With its Interconnect Driven Server (IDS) architecture, LiquidIQ was developed to address the communication bottleneck that afflicts today's scale-out clusters as well as offer SMP virtualization. With the use of HyperTransport technology, the system is able to achieve sustained high-bandwidth, low-latency communications and granular control over system resources.

We recently got the opportunity to talk with Brian Hurley, CEO and co-founder of Liquid Computing, about the significance of their new offering and how he sees LiquidIQ fitting into the high performance and enterprise computing landscapes.

HPCwire: Can you give us a little historical background for Liquid Computing and talk about how that reflects the architectural philosophy of your offering?

Hurley: We started out to focus on the problem of scalable computing; in fact our tag line is "Scalable Computing without Compromise". When we looked at the state of the computing industry, we quickly determined that the basic problem with computing today is not about computing –- that has been commoditized –- it is all about communications. How processors talk to each other, how they talk to memory, how they talk to I/O. To solve this communications problem, we developed a fundamentally new system architecture, which we call the Interconnect Driven Server (IDS) architecture that delivers unprecedented performance and unique new capabilities.

We started with a "white sheet of paper" and designed an integrated system, rather than a system of systems, that allowed us to break the bounds of the "metal box" that typically defines the limits of computing systems today. We have a system that supports seamless multi-chassis scaling. Around this, we wrap "telecom DNA" related to scalable system operations, availability and life cycle management.

The LiquidIQ product delivers new capabilities that include: performance; flexibility; manageability; high availability; and low TCO.

HPCwire: What is the most important problem that you see the Interconnect Driven Server architecture solving in your target markets in high performance computing?

Hurley: We are solving the problems of sustained mixed workload performance over scale and we are doing it with a low cost of ownership.

HPCwire: Do you think HPC users are ready for server virtualization, and if so, what makes you think this is the case?

Hurley: Yes. Virtualization solves long-standing issues associated with system flexibility, operations and life cycle management. We have taken a practical approach to hardware virtualization that simplifies the operation and use of scalable computing. Virtualization removes human effort from reconfigurations, and allows the system to be adapted to different applications or user requirements through software commands or automatic policy.

LiquidIQ virtualizes all system resources including: processors, memory, I/O, and communications. This virtualization of system resources offers significant manageability and flexibility benefits without performance degradation.

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