Novell announced an integrated, tested and validated solution for high performance computing. Based on the HP BladeSystem solution, SUSETM Linux Enterprise Server from Novell, and additional components from Novell and HP partners, the solution constitutes the first high performance computing (HPC) offering under Novell's Validated Configuration Program, launched earlier this year. As a result, customers can now to take full advantage of high performance computing on Linux, making it easier to deploy a complex, clustered Linux-based infrastructure with a flexible, fully tested, fully integrated solution backed by Novell and HP.

"The combination of HP's BladeSystem and Proliant servers and SUSE Linux being provided under Novell's Validation Configuration Program delivers a complete, easy to setup and install HPC hardware and software offering that is highly secure, scalable, and enterprise ready,” said Robert Desautels, President, Harvard Research Group, Inc.“Researchers, scientists, and business professionals who rely on high performance compute clusters to meet their mission critical requirements should put this offering on their short list."

Organizations are increasingly turning to high performance computing to deliver the massive computing power required for challenges ranging from high-end, intensive scientific and engineering problems to commercial data-intensive tasks. Seismic analysis for oil exploration, aerodynamic simulation for motor and aircraft design, molecular modeling for biomedical research, and data mining and financial modeling for business analysis all leverage high performance computing. Organizations are also adopting clusters based on Linux to ensure constant uptime while still leveraging the flexibility, reliability and low cost of open source.

The design and operation of a clustered HPC infrastructure are complex, often involving multiple components from different suppliers, each of which must interoperate seamlessly to provide mission-critical standards of performance and reliability. Novell and HP now offer a solution that meets these challenges, enabling organizations to realize the benefits of Linux-based HPC quickly and cost effectively.

“HP examined the insight we had gained from our HP Linux Reference Architectures development and customer implementations, and we realized that adding an HPC stack was a natural way for us to extend the benefits of Linux integration to our HPC customers,” said Efrain Rovira, worldwide director, Open Source and Linux Organization, HP. “This validated configuration is a critical component in our offerings to the HPC sector, which does the heaviest computational lifting of all.”

This solution has been tailored to address the needs of five industries with clearly identified high performance computing requirements: electronic design automation, financial services, life sciences, manufacturing and oil and gas. For each of these vertical industries, a specific solution bundle has been developed, allowing customers to choose a configuration that has been designed and tuned to meet their industry-specific requirements. (See attached Fact Sheet for solution components.)

“Novell's Validated Configuration Program shifts the cost and complexity of testing the compatibility of multiple components away from individual customers, and onto Novell and its partners,” said David Patrick, vice president, Linux and Open Source Platforms and Services at Novell. “This represents a significant advance over ordinary industry certification programs by ensuring that a particular application or hardware platform performs well in conjunction with multiple other components, removing real business risk for the customer.”