Modular Computing
Abstract
As Janet Matsuda, SGI's director of Graphics Product Marketing, says: "Modularity offers both savings and scalability so that customers don't waste their money on what they don't want and can spend it on what they do want." Debra Goldfarb, group vice president at analyst firm IDC, agrees: "Modular computing empowers end users to build the kind of environment that they need not only today but over time.
Description of Modular Computing
To keep up with computing demand while operating within restricted budgets, IT must find ways to optimally use computing resources and reduce people costs. There are many areas of improvement. As data centers have moved toward servers and away mainframes, IT has found that some mainframe capabilities weren't available on servers. A glaring example is that smaller servers were unable to rapidly obtain more processing power to accommodate peaks in computing demand.
As applications became more transactional, for example with customers entering information via the Web, these peaks in computing demand became more visible. During peak demand, customers saw their transactions slow down. In situations where these transactions affect the bottom line, as when customers enter purchases, prompt processing becomes vital to the business.As the number of customers using Web services has increased, the peaks in computing demand became more intense and more frequent. Consequently, customers more frequently saw declines in performance.
Cost of Over-Provisioning
As data centers have moved toward servers and away mainframes, IT has found that some mainframe capabilities weren’t available on servers. A glaring example is that smaller servers were unable to rapidly obtain more processing power to accommodate peaks in computing demand.
As applications became more transactional, for example with customers entering information via the Web, these peaks in computing demand became more visible. During peak demand, customers saw their transactions slow down. In situations where these transactions affect the bottom line, as when customers enter purchases, prompt processing becomes vital to the business.
As the number of customers using Web services has increased, the peaks in computing demand became more intense and more frequent. Consequently, customers more frequently saw declines in performance.
NUMAflex by SGI
SGI (NYSE: SGI), known worldwide for providing a broad range of high-performance computing and advanced graphics solutions, today announced a technology that promises to help break the "digital ceiling"--the performance limits that block progress in the rapidly evolving digital economy and crucial efforts in medicine, science, manufacturing and media. The modular, brick-style technology--called NUMAflexTM-also stands to revolutionize the way people buy high-performance computers, allowing them to expand and upgrade only the elements they need for their systems or add new technologies as they become available.
