SYSTEMS

Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu Laboratories, Ltd. today announced that, in collaboration with France Telecom, they have developed a system based on grid computing that enables telecommunications carriers to optimize use of their IT resources, and have successfully completed testing of the system. In these tests, service loads were automatically allocated among servers located in Paris, Tokyo, and Kawasaki, enabling the overall system to handle loads that would have been beyond the capacity of conventional systems. This project is one outcome of an R&D partnership between Fujitsu and France Telecom announced in December 2004. Details of the technology will be presented at Grid World 2006, which opens May 11 at Tokyo International Forum, and at Fujitsu Forum 2006 to be held from May 18, also at Tokyo International Forum. Background One of the key requirements for a telecom carrier's system is that it be able to respond to dramatic load fluctuations. With conventional fixed systems, servers would need to be ready in advance of demand peaks for each service, which is not an efficient way of allocating IT investment resources. Test Overview Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Laboratories Limited, and France Telecom co-developed a grid service platform (GSP) which allocates resources automatically in response to application loads, by using grid technologies to virtualize and integrate 24 servers located in the three locations of Paris, Tokyo, and Kawasaki, Japan. The tests involved two applications: an interactive application called eConf and a data analysis batch job, both which were run in the GSP environment and each with loads that varied over time. The tests successfully demonstrated that, using the GSP environment, server resources in the three locations can be autonomously distributed in response to application load volumes and business priorities, resulting in an efficient system configuration that takes full advantage of existing IT resources. Developments The grid computing-based project was initiated in December 2004 as part of the strategic R&D partnership between France Telecom and Fujitsu. In the first phase of the project which was completed in January 2005, existing products and applications such as CyberGRIP middleware from Fujitsu, and data mining and video compression applications from France Telecom were brought together to verify that grid computing technologies could be deployed with these products. In the latest tests, the second phase of the project, joint development began in February 2005 with the objective to develop a platform that enables telecom carriers to widely make efficient and full use of their IT resources. Based on the results of these latest tests, the companies plan to conduct verification with actual services.