QLogic announces InfiniBand products for Microsoft Windows HPC Server 2008

As a Microsoft Global Launch Partner, QLogic demonstrates commitment to deliver market-ready HPC solutions for Microsoft's newest server platform: QLogic today announced the availability of QLogic InfiniBand switches and adapters for Microsoft HPC Server 2008. Microsoft Windows HPC Server 2008 was launched worldwide by Microsoft today and makes supercomputing more accessible to end users allowing them to seamlessly harness the power of distributed computing through a familiar Windows desktop environment without requiring specialized skills or training. Shipping in October, QLogic InfiniBand networks for Windows HPC Server 2008 are optimized to deliver the high-bandwidth, low-latency fabric needed for demanding high performance computing applications. Windows HPC Server 2008 is based on the Windows Server 2008 operating system and is designed to increase productivity, scalability and manageability. Windows HPC Server 2008 offers the ability to efficiently scale to thousands of processing cores. QLogic InfiniBand switches and adapters complement Windows HPC Server 2008's ability to scale by providing a high-bandwidth, low-latency interconnect for servers and storage. "Ecosystem partners such as QLogic are vital to the success of our Windows HPC Server 2008 launch as we work together to take the complexity out of high performance computing," said Vince Mendillo, director of HPC marketing at Microsoft Corp. "Incredibly easy to install, QLogic InfiniBand products should play a big part in the adoption of Windows HPC Server 2008, which dramatically simplifies the overall deployment, administration, and management of high performance networks without the need for specialized training or tools." "With the introduction of Windows HPC Server 2008, Microsoft is providing a broad platform for software vendors and an expanded playing field for hardware manufacturers to enable new innovations in high performance computing," said Frank Berry, vice president of marketing, QLogic Corp. "As a key ecosystem partner, we are actively collaborating with Microsoft to ensure that our InfiniBand products seamlessly integrate with this important new platform and deliver optimal performance." QLogic Networking for HPC -- Run Faster, Scale Higher QLogic offers a comprehensive end-to-end portfolio of InfiniBand networking products for HPC including multi-protocol director switches, edge switches, host channel adapters (HCAs), and the necessary software to install, operate, and maintain high performance fabrics. Delivering the industry's highest message rate, lowest MPI latency and highest effective bandwidth, QLogic InfiniBand adapters enable MPI and TCP applications to scale to thousands of nodes with unprecedented price-performance. The most comprehensive and flexible HPC cluster interconnect fabric solutions on the market, QLogic InfiniBand switches incorporate the industry's only management tools that enable an administrator to install and boot an InfiniBand fabric in minutes, helping to satisfy the growing demand for high performance computational clusters and grids.