Are Blades Clusters?

Christopher G. Willard, Ph.D.
Senior Research Consultant

The difference between blades and clusters, or rather between blade-based distributed-memory systems and rack-mounted distributed-memory systems, has led from time to time to the following question: Are the two types of systems variations of a common type or two separate types? (Or more simply: Are blades clusters?)

Table 1 compares data on blade-based systems and nodes with clusters and rack-mounted nodes (a.k.a. cluster nodes). Data for this table was generated from the Technology Views module of the InterSect360^TM market advisory service. This database is currently based on specifications for 153 server products and 177 nodes which are actively sold into the HPC market by 14 suppliers. It contains technical data at both the system level and the node level. This database will be updated periodically. More detailed information about server technology currently sold to HPC market is available in the Tabor Research report: InterSect360^TM Market Advisory Service: Technology Views, "Technology Prevalence in the HPC Market," September 2007.

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"Not in Budget": The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Christopher G. Willard, Ph.D.
Senior Research Consultant

Tabor Research surveyed the High Productivity Computing user community to complete its first Site Budget Allocation Map, a look at how HPC users divide and spend their HPC budgets. We surveyed users on their spending in seven top-level categories: hardware, software, facilities, staffing, services, utility computing, and other. Each category was further divided into constituent subcategories, resulting in 25 unique items included in the analysis.

For any item or category, the respondent had the ability to reply "not in budget" (NIB), meaning that payment for that item or category would not come out of the HPC budget in question. In these cases, it is possible - in some cases certain - that additional money is being spent out of a different budget within the organization in support of HPC. For example, several respondents marked items in the facilities category as NIB. In these cases, it is safe to presume that power consumption is paid for by someone in the organization, but that these costs do not come out of the HPC budget.

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Tabor Research Quick Question Results:

Users: How much of the software in your HPC workflow do you develop and maintain internally?

Arguably the most important concept in computing is the idea of the "stored instruction machine". That is a machine that will perform different tasks based on different sets of instructions that can be loaded into memory and executed by the machine. This concept allows the same basic machines to do tasks ranging from sending pictures of one’s children to friends and relations, to monitoring international monetary exchange rates, to simulating the evolution of the universe. It has also proved to be a major driver in the expansion of technology, markets and economies.

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