Microsoft wraps up code for 'supercomputer' Windows

Microsoft has taken another step in its effort to bring Windows in the world of supercomputing, having finished development of its computer cluster operating system.

The software maker said Friday that it has finalized the code for Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003, which is designed to allow multiple servers to work together to handle high-performance computing (HPC) tasks. Such work, long handled by systems from SGI and Cray, has increasingly been tackled by Linux clusters, though Microsoft has been planning its entry for some time.

CNET News.com first reported in May 2004 that Microsoft was developing such a version of Windows. A month later, the company confirmed its plans.

“This is a long-term investment for Microsoft,” Kyril Faenov, director of High Performance Computing at Microsoft, said in a telephone interview. “We think we can make an impact.”

The company had originally hoped to have the software ready last fall, but opted to spend more time testing the product. Now Microsoft says it is ready, noting that some early customers, including Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems and Cornell University’s biology department are already using the software. Dell, Hewlett-Packard and IBM are among the computer makers that are planning to sell clusters using Microsoft’s software.

Microsoft hopes that, though late to the cluster computing game, it can enter just as such tasks become more common and move beyond academic and research areas into large businesses.

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