Cray CTO: Linux clusters don't play in HPC

jagger writes "Linux clustering was touted as the next big thing by many vendors last week at ClusterWorld Conference & Expo 2004. But supercomputer vendor Cray Inc. scoffed at the notion of putting Linux clusters in the high-performance computing (HPC) category. "Despite assertions made by Linux vendors, a Linux cluster is not a high performance computer," said Dr. Paul Terry, CTO of Cray Canada."

Comments

In other words, another PR opportunity

[overbyj]

Of course he is going to say this. He is an exec at Cray, what would he say "Oh yeah, our machines are good at HPC but of course you could build a Beowulf cluster fairly cheaply and efficiently and you wouldn't have to rely on us to do it."

Cray used to be a big name in computing but unfortunately for them, they are a relic now. They had their day and it hard to believe that they will be able to compete effectively against Beowulf clusters and Linux mainframes that IBM is pushing. With IBM's public love and more importantly, financial, affair with Linux at the high end, I wouldn't want to compete with them.

What else d'ya expect him to say?

[arvindn]

After all, he's in the competition. Duh.

The simplest rebuttal is that its not what you call it that matters but what you can do with it. And, judging by the ubiquitous deployment of linux clusters, the answer seems to be "almost anything under the sun".