INDUSTRY

Supercomputing 2005 marks a key inflection point in the broad adoption of high-performance computing and storage in the mainstream enterprise market. Isilon Systems, the leader in clustered storage, today announced that Microsoft and Isilon will be demonstrating the use of the Isilon IQ clustered storage systems with Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003. Isilon and Microsoft will demonstrate the powerful role clustered computing and storage can play in accelerating digital workflow, fostering deeper collaboration within the enterprise and significantly reducing IT and infrastructure costs. Isilon also announced today that Digital Dimension, ResearchChannel and ZOIC Studios are among a number of Isilon customers benefiting from clustered storage solutions in Microsoft Windows computing environments. "Microsoft believes the clustered computing and storage revolution is currently underway as we watch cluster-based computing expand rapidly from primarily academic and governmental deployments to broad and diverse adoption across the enterprise market," said Kyril Faenov, director of high-performance computing, Microsoft Corp. "We are pleased to be working with Isilon to bring the benefits of high-performance computing and clustered storage to the broader marketplace." "There are three macro-trends driving the clustered storage revolution -- the explosive growth of unstructured data and digital content, a fundamental technology paradigm shift to clustered computing architectures and the strong desire to pair industry-standard hardware with intelligent software to achieve dramatic cost savings and productivity gains," said Sujal Patel, co-founder and CTO, Isilon Systems. "Enterprise customers across a broad range of industries are benefiting from the shared vision of Microsoft and Isilon and will harness the power of these next-generation clustered computing and storage platforms to transform their businesses." "Applications that demand rapid access to information in large file sets are among the most aggressive consumers of storage capacity in today's enterprises. As IT managers deploy extensive clustered computing systems in more general business applications, they need storage solutions that can keep pace with performance needs," said Richard Villars, Vice President of Storage Systems research at IDC. "Solutions like Isilon's clustered storage products will play a critical role in meeting the capacity and throughput requirements of leading applications." ZOIC Studios, an award-winning visual effects and computer graphics animation studio for commercials, music videos, feature films and episodic television, uses more than 75 terabytes of Isilon IQ clustered storage to support one of the world's largest, high-performance Windows computing clusters -- with more than 1,000 computing nodes. By combining the power and simplicity of Windows computing with Isilon IQ's high performance and scalability, ZOIC has created a complete clustered computing and storage solution that enables them to realize the full value of their digital workflow, advancing the state of the art for visual effects and animation. ResearchChannel, a nonprofit media and technology organization that connects a global audience with its participant research and academic institutions, is available to more than 21 million households through cable and satellite distribution. Its website, with users in over 70 countries worldwide, provides programs on demand and through a live webstream over the Internet and Internet-II backbones. ResearchChannel has deployed Isilon IQ as the heart of its storage infrastructure to support its Windows-based digital workflow. During Supercomputing 2005, ResearchChannel will demonstrate its ultra-high bit-rate, high-definition (HD) streaming video technologies, which use Isilon IQ clustered storage and run on the Microsoft Windows operating system. The company will showcase live and on-demand video between Amsterdam, Australia, Tokyo, the University of Washington and its booth at the Seattle Convention Center. While conventional HD streams at less than 20 megabits per second, ResearchChannel will stream its HD video over the Internet-II at up to 1500 mbps - which is more than 20 times the size of broadcast HD signals. These video and networking technologies promise to pave the way for a wide range of applications, including advanced video conferencing and telemedicine. Digital Dimension, a two-time Visual Effects Society and five-time Emmy award-winning visual effects studio specializing in 3D animation, motion graphics and visual effects for film, television and interactive media, has deployed Isilon IQ as the primary storage for its wide-array of Windows-based, high-performance computing projects. The combination of Isilon's state-of-the-art clustered storage systems and Microsoft's ubiquitous Windows platform has enabled Digital Dimension to realize dramatic performance benefits for its rendering and animation projects, leading to significantly increased productivity and collaboration as well as reduced costs. Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 is Microsoft's official entry into the world of high-performance computing (HPC), and is designed to accelerate time-to-insight by providing an HPC platform that is simple to deploy, operate, and integrate with existing infrastructure and tools. Isilon recently announced the next generation of its award-winning Isilon IQ family of clustered storage systems -- the Isilon IQ 1920, 3000, 4800 and 6000 -- which are powered by the latest version of Isilon's award-winning OneFS distributed file system software and use high-speed, low-latency InfiniBand for intracluster communication.