INDUSTRY

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- ClusterWorld Conference & Expo, the world's premier event on clustered solutions in commercial, research and academic computing, today announced a new awards program for excellence in cluster technology and invited show participants to enjoy themselves at four events added to the conference. The events, held June 24 and 25 during ClusterWorld at the San Jose Convention Center, include a competition to win the HP-sponsored battle of the grids, a reunion of the Beowulf team, a clustering trivia experts challenge and the inaugural Cluster Crash party. "This is a great opportunity for the industry to come together and celebrate both technical excellence and to have fun among ourselves," said Adam Goodman, CEO of QuarterPower Media, publisher of Linux Magazine and producer of ClusterWorld Conference & Expo. "We hope that the ClusterWorld excellence awards help draw attention to the enormous progress made in this industry in just the past few years in solving complex problems that once required vast resources and massive supercomputers." The awards program, called Excellence in Cluster Technology, is the most ambitious ever in the industry and includes nine separate categories: -- Cluster Management/Monitoring Solutions -- Security -- Interconnects -- Grid Solutions -- Storage Solutions -- Developer Tools -- Software Stack/Linux Distribution -- Cluster Reseller -- Best of Show All conference exhibitors are eligible to enter award categories. The application deadline is May 23. A panel of industry experts from the cluster community will serve as judges. Awards will be presented on Wednesday, June 25, at ClusterWorld. For more information on applying, visit www.clusterworldexpo.com. The conference fun kicks off on Tuesday, June 24, where the winner of GridWars II will be announced. Created to increase interest in parallel programming, GridWars is a strategic game where battle programs fight for control over parallel processor controls. Sponsored by HP, check out www.gridwars.com for information on registration, toolkit downloads and game rules. Later that day, Peter Beckman, celebrated clustering guru and lead engineer of the world's largest Grid project, Teragrid, will host a quiz show pitting different experts against one another in a Family Feud meets PhD supercomputing trivia contest. Visit www.clusterworldexpo.com for more information on how your organization can participate. The day ends with the launch of the first annual Cluster Crash Party, hosted by ClusterWorld for attendees, speakers and exhibitors to come together and let their systems down for an unparalleled evening of merriment and mischief.