Continuing to strengthen its global leadership position in enterprise Grid computing software solutions, Platform Computing announced two new customers and significant growth of its China operations. Platform's Grid solutions have been selected by the Shanghai Supercomputer Center, recently ranked as the 17th most powerful computer system in the world, and the Chinese government's influential National High Technology Research and Development Program, known as the “863 Program,” which is evaluating Grid applications for China's aerospace industry.

Platform Computing CEO Songnian Zhou said, “Leading enterprises in various industries around the world use Platform Grid computing solutions to improve engineering and business processes, accelerate time to market, reduce IT costs and increase collaboration among their different silos.

“In China, Platform's Grid solutions are helping organizations consolidate IT infrastructures to increase productivity and support business goals. In order to maintain pace with strong growth in China, Platform is doubling its headcount and has appointed Ping Zhao as general manager, China, to further drive our sales and marketing efforts. We will continue to strategically invest in this important market.”

New Platform Customers in China

The National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (“863 Program”):

Launched in 1986 by the government of China, the “863 Program” aims to enhance China's international competitiveness and improve China's overall R&D capability in high technology. The “863 Program” has selected Platform as the major Grid technology provider in its research project examining the benefits of Grid computing technology for China's aerospace industry. Together with China Aviation Industry Corp. II (AVIC II), Tsinghua University and Bei Hang University, Platform and its LSF family of products will help manage and optimize the project's enterprise IT environment, delivering faster time to results.

“863 Grid Application Program” lead Leng Jun Jie said, “Platform's technology enables us to implement a manufacturing Grid across China, and allows us to realize the key benefits of Grid technology in the manufacturing industry. Platform is a major player in this project and will be key in making this project a success.”

“863 Grid Application Program” manager Yang Guang Wen said, “We are adopting advanced technology such as Platform's Grid computing solutions in a production environment to reduce our project cycle and ultimately improve the quality of our aircraft products. We expect to extend our partnership with Platform in future.”

Shanghai Supercomputer Center (SSC):

Ranked the 17th most powerful computing system in the world, SSC is dedicated to accelerating Shanghai's economic development and technology innovation. SSC is using Platform's Grid computing solutions — Platform LSF, Platform LSF License Scheduler and Platform LSF Analytics — to build an open service support system, and to provide industry-driven high performance computing cluster services such as system monitoring and management, cluster management and license management for SSC's customers in industries including weather forecasting, geological exploration, genomic research and aerospace.

Zhao said, “Platform's Grid computing technology provides an ASP infrastructure to SSC, enabling them to become a service provider in addition to an IT resource provider. Our Grid solutions allow their customers to better use and easily access many industrial applications.”

This announcement was made at Platform's China User Forum, which features Platform executive and customer speakers who will address attendees from several industries such as industrial manufacturing, electronics, and government and research.

Worldwide demand for Grid computing solutions continues to grow rapidly. IDC projects the total Grid technology market opportunity at more than $13 billion by 2007. According to Insight Research, worldwide Grid spending will grow to approximately $19.2 billion by 2010. Grid technology is the foundation for emerging computing models including on-demand computing, adaptive enterprise, utility computing and service oriented architectures (SOA).