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Platform Computing, the largest independent provider of grid software, today announced that the US Department of Defense (DoD) High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) has chosen Platform as its partner to build a common job management environment for all users accessing its shared HPC resource centers across the United States. The project spans multiple DoD Service and Agency sites engaged in defense research, development and testing and will affect more than 4,000 users. This project is an extension of work Platform and the DoD undertook two years ago to link nine data centers using Platform's products. Recently, the HPCMP decided to standardize all shared resource centers on Platform LSF(R) HPC. The DoD HPCMP manages and allocates compute processing power across multiple centers around the country based on user requirements and available resources. By standardizing on a common queuing user interface and workload manager, common resource accounting, and common plug-in scheduling, the DoD is laying the groundwork for a multi-phase project that will eventually include virtual resource clustering and sharing across multiple sites using grid technology. "The High Performance Computing Modernization Program of the Department of Defense is committed to using proven, commercially supported, highly scalable grid computing technology in all of its shared computing centers," explained Cray Henry, HPCMP Director. "With the Platform solution, we are simplifying the process of users submitting work to queues through a common interface rather than multiple interfaces across multiple centers and machines. This standardized solution also gives us the benefits of common accounting and utilization reporting across all centers, so that we can base resource allocation decisions on consistent, accurate information." DoD Chooses Platform Solutions for Technical Computing The DoD chose solutions from Platform's technical computing family of high performance computing products to intelligently access and share resources improving productivity and IT efficiency. In addition, the family of products provides trustworthy data to support IT planning. The department will deploy the solution across more than 10,000 nodes in the shared resource centers to maximize IT resource utilization and increase user productivity for more than 4,000 scientists and researchers. The project involves a broad range of personnel, including IT staff, government technical leaders and technical services providers such as Raytheon, CSC and Lockheed Martin who are working alongside the Platform services team to plan and deploy the project. In today's environment, access to data and knowledge should not be constrained by inflexible IT infrastructure. The Platform HPC technical computing solution features advanced parallel scheduling that takes advantage of unique HPC system topologies and mixed node processing. Commercial 7x24x365 support, heterogeneous hardware and OS support, the ability to easily plug in Maui and custom schedulers, and advanced self-management features including dynamic reconfiguration and failover were important factors in the decision. Platform Federal Government Acceleration Center(TM) "This project is the culmination of many years of working closely with the Department of Defense," said Rene Copeland, vice president and general manager of the Platform Federal Government Acceleration Center. "When the Modernization Program needed a solution that provided control, resiliency and empowerment to drive their IT projects, Platform's long history of work in the High Performance Computing space, experience with government customers and the strength of our products made us their ultimate choice. We're very pleased to be part of this innovative project and look forward to reaching new milestones as the relationship progresses." With over ten years of experience in the government sector, Platform provides software and services to a roster of governmental organizations including NASA Goddard and High Energy Physics labs and other computing centers within the Department of Energy.