Features:

APPRO UNVEILS FIRST ENTERPRISE AMD OPTERON BLADE SERVER
by Tim Curns, Editor

Enhanced performance is a key initiative for many of the vendors exhibiting at SC2004 in Pittsburgh. Appro, a developer of high-performance, density-managed servers, storage subsystems, and high-end workstations for the high- performance and enterprise computing markets, is garnering some attention with the introduction of its next generation blade product, XtremeBlade.

HPCwire's Tim Curns recently interviewed Daniel Kim, Appro's CEO, about the company's upcoming product announcement at SC2004, recent wins and future goals.

HPCwire: We heard that Appro has something new to announce at SC2004. When will it be announced and will there be a demonstration? If so, what are the details?

DK: We have some very exciting news to share at Supercomputing. The XtremeBlade is Appro's next generation blade product and is the first enterprise AMD Opteron Blade server. It addresses the need for higher reliability by providing redundancy of its key components as well as enhanced performance by integrating Infiniband and Ethernet Gigabit switch technologies into the blade. In addition, it is the first blade server to provide mixing node configurations from 2-way to 8-way in the same rack cabinet offering greater scalability and flexibility while providing a reliable clustering building block for High-performance and grid computing. A technology sample will be demonstrated at SC2004 booth number 1941 where opportunities exist for hands on interaction and formal customer presentations. We expect to have production models in late Q1.

HPCwire: In what direction are you trying to take your company with this announcement?

DK: The XtremeBlade solution will increase performance for traditional high- performance computing (HPC) while adding reliability, tight integration of key components such as network switches and centralized management. Now, the enterprise community can also benefit from the price/performance gains of HPC. Appro will continue to look ahead to what's next in the HPC market and what innovations would help make our customers more successful.

HPCwire: How AMD collaborates with Appro in this product announcement? What part do they play and how will this collaboration benefit customers?

DK: The XtremeBlade solution offers a powerful combination by leveraging performance advantages of AMD Opteron processors and Infiniband technologies. The AMD Opteron processors provide industry-leading 32- and 64-bit performance and offer an outstanding integrated memory controller design within the processors. It cuts latency and feeds data to the processor quickly saving our customers' time and money. In addition, AMD HyperTransport technology allows for concurrent multiple processors in a single system delivering faster computing power to our customers.

HPCwire: You mentioned the integration of Infiniband technologies in your new product, what other strategic partners collaborated with Appro for this product announcement?

DK: Appro worked closely with Mellanox and Infinicon, leaders in the InfiniBand-based silicon and system solutions to provide this best-of-breed Infiniband solution to our customers. The XtremeBlade provides 10 Gbps Infiniband performance advantages through an integrated design and outstanding Infiniband fiber management software delivering high-performance and low- latency infrastructure required for next-generation data centers. With XtremeBlade solution, our customers can build high-bandwidth clusters today on an infrastructure that is flexible and easy to scale.

HPCwire: What market segments will be affected by the new XtremeBlade solution?

The segments would be grouped by Application rather than vertical, because the Scientific, Financial and Oil and Gas for example, share similar needs in HPC. Therefore, our market segment could be made up of Compute farms and Database applications. In addition, XtremeBlade would play heavily in addressing the needs of a wide variety of applications that require compute intensive performance while satisfying the needs for higher reliability. HPCwire: How has Appro's strategy served its target markets, such as the Oil and Gas industry and how do you see the future?

DK: Appro has made significant deals in the Oil and Gas market that has demonstrated the company's innovation in clustering computing. For Example, Appro built this past months five Appro HyperBlade Linux clusters to support Paradigm's Data Processing and Imaging Solutions. The five HyperBlade clusters were interconnected with Dual Gigabit Ethernet, managed by Appro BladeDome cluster management software running compute-intensive scientific applications. We are very happy to be able to provide cluster solutions to Paradigm, leader provider of information solutions of the oil and gas industry worldwide.

In addition, Appro will ship this month a total of seven Appro HyperBlade Linux clusters consisting of 500 nodes/1,000 AMD Opteron processors to Staag Imaging, L.P., a leading provider of high-quality imaging solutions for the Oil and Gas Industry. The Appro HyperBlade clusters will help support Staag Imaging's new proprietary Reverse-Time Migration algorithm. Appro and Stagg Imaging solutions provide the industry a new alternative in depth processing for maximizing imaging accuracy in existing datasets.

This industry has been very price/performance oriented in solving their computational problems and Appro is well positioned in this market with the Hyperblade cluster series.

HPCwire: How do you see the future of this market and how will XtremeBlade server be positioned?

DK: The XtremeBlade is another option for Oil and Gas markets. As 64bit technology continues to be adopted in this industry, data requirements become more complex and more demanding while high-availability becomes an important issue. Appro XtremeBlade is the ideal solution for this scenario and other Enterprise computing markets such as Financial, Bio-informatics and large research labs where high-availability and high-bandwidth is also important.

HPCwire: How does Appro differentiate itself from other cluster vendors in these markets?

DK: There are three things that differentiate Appro: Product innovation, strategic technology partnerships and high quality services.

Appro delivers flexible, scalable, high-performance clusters, storage options, and centralized remote management packaged with outstanding solution integration. Now, Appro offers integrated Infiniband and Ethernet Gigabit switch technology into the new XtremeBlade solution that will further reduce cable complexity and will improved reliability by adding redundancy of its key components.

Our strategic partnerships with AMD, Intel, Infiniband Consortium, Raytheon, Uniwide Technologies allow us to expand our product footprint and address the needs of many industry verticals

Appro offers best in class installation services, national onsite coverage with a number of service level options and support for a broad range of Windows and Linux Operating Systems.

HPCwire: What impact does your announcement have on the HPC world in general?

DK: The blade server market is growing quickly - by over 700% from 2002 to 2003 and the same report estimates that blades will make up 20% of the overall server market by 2007 (report based on Burton Group Research). The research group also stated that this growth is expected to continue and blade servers will become common components of consolidated, high-capacity data centers. The physical consolidation of processing power is also leading to the creation of management packages that offer "virtualized" servers for grid or utility computing environments. Appro XtremeBlade Solution provides the building block for utility and Grid computing. This product will have significant impact to the HPC industry in general as it raises the bar in technology innovation.

HPCwire: Where does Appro go from here?

DK: The benefits of server clustering include higher performance and scalability and to a lesser extent, investment protection and simplified administration. Appro will continue to deliver cutting edge server cluster technology to our customers. We feel that the XtremeBlade Solution will mark a significant contribution to the High Performance and Enterprise computing markets. We look forward to make first shipments of this product as early as Q1/2005. We are proud to add the XtremeBlade Solution to further enhance our overall high-performance computing product offerings.

HPCwire: Thanks for keeping us up-to-date on Appro's services and SC announcements!

Appro will be showcasing its new XtremeBlade Solution at SC2004, booth #1941. More information can be found at http://www.appro.com.