ACADEMIA

Industrial clients will now save money when they compute at the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC). Effective April 1, 2006, OSC's business clients can use some of the most advanced high performance computing (HPC) resources for $1 per CPU hour. When computing, OSC's industrial clients typically accrue processing charges. The new rate gives industrial clients the same unlimited access to OSC's state-of-the-art hardware -- the Cray X1, Intel Pentium 4 Xeon Cluster, and Intel Itanium 2 Cluster -- for less. But that's not all. OSC's business users will get even more bang for their buck this spring. OSC plans to acquire a new system estimated to be six times as powerful as any one of its current systems. The new system will offer numerous system and user support opportunities as well as enable OSC to better serve its core operations in quality HPC services, research endeavors, and Blue Collar Computing initiatives. The new rate change may be especially attractive to OSC's Blue Collar Computing clients looking to take advantage of its HPC resources but who currently lack the expertise or time to be an HPC incubator or research new HPC applications. OSC's Blue Collar Computing initiative makes HPC easily accessible to industry and research. It focuses on high-productivity languages, industry and supercomputer lab collaborations, and training expertise -- all geared toward helping business clients benefit from the full spectrum of HPC. "OSC's facilities and collaborative programs benefit industry by enabling front line research as well as preparing our current and future workforce for high technology jobs," said Stanley Ahalt, OSC Executive Director. "We encourage interested businesses to take advantage of this opportunity to accelerate their production time and enhance their products and services." Businesses interested in learning more about OSC's industrial program should visit its Web site.