HPCwire: Ferrari Takes Windows HPC Server for a Spin

The Leading Source for Global News and Information Covering the Ecosystem of High Productivity Computing

HPCwire >> Off the Wire

October 15, 2008

Ferrari Takes Windows HPC Server for a Spin

Page: 1 of 2
1 | 2 All »

Desk-side supercomputing is poised to revolutionise automotive design and engineering

MARANELLO, Italy, Oct. 15 -- Two of the most dynamic, high-performance companies in the world joined forces today when Ferrari SpA decided to use Microsoft Corp.'s newest high-performance computing (HPC) technology to push the boundaries of automotive engineering, design and development.

Ferrari's sport department is one of the first companies to test Microsoft's new high-performance computing system -- Windows HPC Server 2008. With broad industry support from its partners and customers, Microsoft is demonstrating the impact of high-performance computing in the automotive sector.

New technology in HPC can be an invaluable tool to help maximise efficiency, analyse risk and provide a lever for growth. Working in close collaboration, Microsoft and Ferrari have developed a high-performance solution for one of the most demanding industries. Windows HPC Server 2008 dramatically decreases deployment times, improving the ability for firms to bring new products to market.

"Ferrari is always looking for the most advanced technological solutions, and of course, the same applies for software and engineering," said Piergiorgio Grossi, head of information systems at Ferrari. "We are always focused on scouting new technologies that can give us a competitive advantage. Windows HPC Server 2008 is very promising, and the long-lasting collaboration with Ferrari will give directions to develop a fast, familiar, high-performance computing platform for our users, engineers and administrators."

"Companies have to be more efficient than ever with IT resources, but they also need to maintain their position in a competitive marketplace," said Chris Philips, general manager of the Windows Server and Solutions group at Microsoft. "They require HPC solutions that deploy quickly, integrate in a heterogeneous environment and scale from workstation to cluster."

"The launch of Windows HPC Server 2008 is just another step in our vision to drive HPC mainstream," said Bill Laing, corporate vice president of the Windows Server and Solutions group at Microsoft.

With the introduction of Windows HPC Server 2008, high-performance computing in the automotive industry is now poised to drive major improvements in the following:

Speed to market.
Predicting and preventing defects.
Improving collaboration.
Automating previously complex and arcane systems.
Gathering real-time information from vehicles on the road.

The development of Windows HPC Server 2008 means that high-performance computing -- once confined to CIA code-breaking and Pentagon war games -- is about to become as readily available to auto designers and engineers as laptop programs. The automotive industry is entering a period of profound transformation, where high-performance computing capabilities will be at the desk-side of those who innovate and test consumer vehicles, rather than confined to just large, expensive and time-consuming centralised computer-room operations.

Microsoft is delivering HPC solutions to top-tier European businesses and institutions in the automotive, oil and gas, financial services, and academic sectors, taking on some of the biggest clusters and demonstrating the broad ecosystem of the platform. In addition, Microsoft is entering into partnerships with major providers in the supercomputing space, such as Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Cray Inc, Dell and HP.

Page: 1 of 2
1 | 2 All »

Article Tools

Share Options

(Digg, Technorati, more)

Subscribe

Subscribe to HPCwire

Discussion

There are 0 discussion items posted.

Join the Discussion

You must be a registered user in order to comment on HPCwire stories.

Members enjoy:

	Access to Special Content, including Podcasts, Webcasts, and Whitepapers and more!
	Ability to take an active role in the discussions that are shaping the HPC technology discipline!
	Special offers available only to HPCwire members!

Become a Registered User Today!

Registered Users Log in Here to Comment

Email Address:	Password (case sensitive)

Remember me	Forgot Password?

RSS Feeds

Feeds by Topic

Feeds by Industry

Feeds by Content Type

Feature Articles

The Week in Review

TACC's Ranger supercomputer celebrates its second year of enabling important research; Microsoft partners with NSF to bring cloud services to researchers; and NSF submits its fiscal year 2011 budget request. We recap those stories and more in our weekly wrapup.
Read More...

NASA Looks to Move Science Apps Into the Cloud

It seems only natural that the US space agency would be casting its eyes toward the clouds. Sure enough, NASA is now looking to cloud computing to optimize the operation of the agency's IT infrastructure for some of its science codes. Like many commercial businesses and government organizations, NASA is being asked to do more computing with fewer datacenter resources.
Read More...

Thoughts, Observations, Beliefs & Opinions About the NSF Supercomputer Centers

There is no such thing as an NSF (Supercomputer) Center and there never has been. There should be. What there are, in the words of Ed Hayes, then comptroller of NSF, are "NSF ASSISTED Supercomputer Centers." This is a double edged sword.
Read More...

Read more HPCwire features...

Top Headlines

IBM Releases Energy Efficient Power7 System

Feb 09 | eWeek Europe | Company says new high-end servers will deliver "intelligent performance." Read more...

Inductive Coupling Packs Flash Drive in a Chip

Feb 09 | EE Times | Wireless technology promises energy-efficient chip-to-chip communication. Read more...

IBM, Microsoft Help Create Montana Supercomputer

Feb 08 | eWeek | A new kind of Rocky Mountain high. Read more...

AMD Aims for GPUs in Mainstream Servers Starting 2012

Feb 08 | Computerworld | Chip maker hopes to bring CPU-GPU processors to servers in two years. Read more...

Graphene Transistors That Work at Blistering Speeds

Feb 05 | Technology Review | IBM has created graphene transistors that leave silicon ones in the dust. Read more...

Read more headlines...

Featured Whitepapers

Virtualization for Aggregation And The vSMP Architecture™

Jan 12 | | In-depth look at vSMP Foundation server virtualization technology, technical implementation, use cases and capabilities. The technical whitepaper provides an architectural overview and details on the three vSMP Foundation products: vSMP Foundation for SMP, vSMP Foundation for Cluster and vSMP Foundation for Cloud.

Copper Cable Technologies for High Performance Computing

Jan 18 | | This white paper discusses Gore’s copper cable assemblies, and how they continue to exceed the standards for providing reliable, cost-effective solutions for high-performance computer applications.

Appro Assists LLNL with Cluster Designed for Extreme Scale Visualization

Jan 11 | | LLNL is home to some of the fastest computers in the world. In 2012, LLNL expects to have the Sequoia supercomputing cluster operational with a projected performance of over 20 PFLOP/s. These systems will focus on strengthening the foundations of predictive simulation through running large suites of complex simulations and then comparing model predictions with experimental data. To visualize this project’s large amount of data, LLNL requested an Appro Supercomputing Cluster specifically designed to support interactive data analysis.

View the White Paper Library

Multimedia

Webcast: Virtualized Data Center Roundtable

Join this online panel discussion for live Q&A with leading industry experts, analysts, and end-users to discuss the latest innovations, best practices, barriers to implementation, and measurable benefits of server virtualization with a particular focus on today's real world solutions.

Webcast: Watch SC09 Birds of a Feather Video: Scalable Fault-Tolerant HPC Supercomputers

Learn about scalable fault-tolerant architectures and examples of energy efficient and scalable supercomputing clusters using dual QDR InfiniBand to combine capacity computing with network failover capabilities with the help of programming languages such as MPI and a robust Linux cluster management package.

Webcast: High Performance Computing for a Smarter Planet

LIVE@SCO9: The IBM team discusses new innovations in hardware, software and services that help clients better understand their workloads and get insight from their R&D efforts. Technology demonstrations include the soon-to-be-released Power7 HPC processor, the DCS990 system with 2.4 petabytes of storage, the xCAT management tool, secure HPC cloud computing and more. Winners of two HPCwire Readers' and Editors’ Choice Awards! Take the IBM virtual tour at SC09 or more information go online to: http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/deepcomputing/sc09.html