Intel® Cluster Ready News Archive

Release: Intel® Cluster Checker 1.7 is Now Available
New features include faster execution times, new test modules, broader Linux* OS support, and greater simplicity and control. This latest release of Intel Cluster Checker supports the evolving Intel Cluster Ready Specification version 1.2, and is backwards compatible with version 1.1.
Read more about the new features in Intel Cluster Checker 1.7
Download the Intel Cluster Ready Specification 1.2

Release: Intel® Cluster Checker 1.6
The go-to tool for verifying your clusters’ configuration, is more powerful than ever. Learn about features to enhance performance and improve the user experience – including features for regular (non-privileged) users.
Check out the list of 1.6 features

Major Release: Intel® Cluster Checker 1.5
Harness Intel's high-performance processors. Version 1.5 of the Intel Cluster Checker adds support for the Intel® Xeon® processor 5600 and 7500 series and takes advantages of the latest versions of Intel® HPC tools. You'll also find a range of improvements to make cluster checking faster, simpler, and more powerful, including brand new auto-configuration features.
Check out the list of 1.5 features

Intel® Cluster Ready Manufacturing Requirements Documentation is Now Available
Check out the latest addition to the Intel® Cluster Ready specification for Provisioning vendors, PIs, and OEMs.
View the Intel Cluster Ready Cluster Manufacturing Requirements, Version V1.4

Enhancements with release of Intel® Cluster Checker 1.4
Version 1.4 of the Intel® Cluster Checker was a major release containing many features to enhance performance, compatibility, and support. The 1.4 release included:
- Engine and External API Redesign
- Intel® Xeon® Processor 5500 Series Features Support
- Extended Intel Cluster Ready Components Support
- Input Schema Validation Next Generation Benchmarks
Interested in finding out more? Check out the full list of features.
Ready to try it out? Download the full product.

Unleash game-changing intelligent performance
See how the Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series helps HPC users simulate, analyze and visualize more complex models faster and accelerate data-intensive applications – all while packing more performance into smaller footprints that require less power.
Find out more about the Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series
To find certified Intel Cluster Ready clusters based on the Intel Xeon processor, view the Intel Cluster Ready hardware and system vendors list

HPC@Intel: When to Say No to Parallelism - on HPCwire.com
As a software developer, you are faced with a range of options as you decide whether and how to modify your applications for parallel architectures. What approach should you adopt? How significantly should you alter applications? When should you say "no" to parallelism? Answering these questions requires not only technical expertise but also strategic thinking that evaluates the business benefits and costs. As you weigh your options, consider the suggestions included in this article, which we’ve derived from our experiences at Intel working with software developers to optimize code.
For more information, read the full article at HPCwire.com.

New Intel & QLogic Alliance Brief
With the Intel Cluster Ready program, Intel teamed up with industry leaders like QLogic to make high performance computing (HPC) simpler. When you choose Intel Cluster Ready certified systems and registered applications, it’s easier to purchase, deploy and manage HPC clusters – and put advanced technologies from Intel and QLogic to work on your toughest HPC challenges.
Read the brief

Univa UD and ICR product brief
Find out how Intel Cluster Ready and Univa UD are teaming up to make cluster configuration even easier.

Read the IDC Solution Brief that explains how the Intel Cluster Ready program and the Intel Xeon Processor 5500 Series are extending HPC adoption and use - Intel Cluster Ready and the Intel Xeon Processor 5500 Series: A Dynamic Duo for Broadening HPC Cluster Adoption

Dell and Intel® Cluster Ready team up to simplify HPC
Dell and Intel have teamed up to simplify the management of HPC clusters bringing supercomputing power to workgroups and departments to help improve productivity while minimizing administrative and management burdens. Find out how the combination of Dell HPC and the Intel® Cluster Ready program results in simpler operation and management of an HPC cluster.
Read more in the Ziff Davis Enterprise Technology Brief

Virtual testing software specialist chooses Intel Cluster Ready High Performance Cluster from Dell to develop life-saving applications
The ESI Group chose a High Performance Solution tested for compatibility with the Intel Cluster Ready program. The solution included Dell blade servers, the operating system and system management software.
To learn more about this HPC solution, read the case study

Silicon Mechanics Case Study: Read about how Intel and Silicon Mechanics are simplifying HPC.

Stanford HPC Center Rocks with Intel® Cluster Ready Solution
In just eleven days during 2007, the Stanford University High-Performance Computing (HPC) Center nearly doubled the performance of its existing compute system. The center leveraged certification methodology from the Intel® Cluster Ready Program to fully implement a 1,696-core cluster solution. The solution integrates Clustercorp, Dell and Panasas technologies to give the center the flexibility to meet ever-expanding computational and application requirements and to enable Stanford researchers to achieve faster time-to-results. For more information, read the HPCwire article

Cluster Ready Proof Point Sponsored by Silicon Mechanics
High-performance computing (HPC) systems are within reach of SMBs, but those complex clusters can still require full-time IT staff … unless the cluster is built on Intel® Cluster Ready specifications. Cluster Ready makes sure everyone from the software vendors to the system builder is playing with the same rule book, so customers get solutions that work out of the box and can scale as needed.
Check out the full video at the Reseller Advocate Magazine page - ramTV.

First Experiences building an Intel® Cluster Ready certified 40GB/s InfiniBand* cluster
Presented by Jim Ballew, CTO of Appro*
Appro, the leading provider of HPC Cluster Solutions together with Intel® and Mellanox* provide the most advanced, high-performance computing solutions to help HPC users align their technology more closely with their business goals. In this presentation given during ISC 08, Appro discussed their experience in building the first Intel® Cluster Ready certified 40GB/s InfiniBand cluster based on Intel® Xeon® Quad-Core processors. Additionally, Appro presented the value of balanced supercomputer architecture with its Xtreme-X1 supercomputer providing a reliable and scalable architecture that combines high performance with high availability computing in a redundant and manageable framework. As an added bonus, Richard Dracott – General Manager of Intel’s HPC unit – and Gilad Shainer – Director of the Technical Marketing Group at Mellanox – were on hand for questions.
All presentations are now available for general viewing at Appro’s Multimedia page

Industry Alliances Redefining Technical Computing
Leading ISVs, such as ANSYS, Autodesk*, and Schlumberger, are looking to Intel Corp, with its high-performance workstation and cluster-based server platforms, development tools, and customer deployment programs, to help them create total solutions for their most demanding customers.
For more information, read the Technical Computing Solution Profiles article

Livermore Software Technology Corp on Intel® Cluster Ready
When you’re purchasing your next cluster, LSTC suggests you look to an Intel® Cluster Ready certified cluster for faster, more efficient deployment of LS-DYNA/MPP.
For more information, read the FEA Information article or visit LSTC

Intel® Cluster Ready and Platform™ Open Cluster Stack: Clusters made Simple
Platform™ Open Cluster Stack and certified Dell™ clusters can help significantly simplify the deployment and management of HPC clusters.

Read the IDC White Paper that explains what sets the Intel Cluster Ready program apart from the others - Intel Cluster Ready Program Builds HPC Momentum.

Intel® Cluster Ready White Paper
Intel® Cluster Ready is designed to create predictable expectations for users and providers of high-performance technical computing (HPTC) clusters, primarily targeting customers in the commercial and industrial sectors.

Simulation Clusters Virtual Test Drive
Make fast work of multiple simulations with a high-performance computing cluster that's cost-effective and surprisingly simple to use. Test drive your Abaqus FEA workload on an Intel® Xeon® processor-based system – Cray CX1, Silicon Mechanics Hyperform HPCi, or Supermicro SuperBlade – all certified Intel Cluster Ready!
To learn more go to SimulationClusters.com

FEKO Certified Intel® Cluster Ready
FEKO works closely with Intel to achieve the best possible performance from cluster computing environments. In this endeavour, Intel certified FEKO as "Intel® Cluster Ready".

Clusters Made Easy - How to Deploy Cluster Systems Dramatically Faster
This is part of the Intel-sponsored Second Life* presentation series focused on multi-core development. Click here to view the video.

Now that MPI and OpenMP* have become standard for cluster and multi-core architectures, it’s time to consider how to take full advantage of standards-based parallel computing. View this webcast and learn why organizations are making Intel® cluster software technology their preferred development or production environment and explore the top things you should know to prepare for your current or next clusters.
Presented by Werner Krotz-Vogel, Technical Marketing Engineer for the Intel® Cluster Ready program.