Can HPC Help Mitigate Risk In These Turbulent Times?
In its latest bid to show that the Windows stack is suited for the most mission critical applications, Microsoft's release of
Windows HPC Server 2008 this week promises to extend the limits of Redmond's data platform.
I attended the High Performance On Wall Street conference in New York, where Microsoft launched Windows HPC Server and the timing was quite ironic. On the one hand, Wall Street is undergoing a historic crisis -- indeed, the landscape of the entire financial services industry has unraveled. Meanwhile IT vendors made the case for performing complex risk analysis across large clusters that could yield better transparency and performance using methodologies such as algorithmic trading.
For its part, Windows HPC Server 2008 will push the envelope for those looking to run such applications on the Windows platform. But with everything that's going on, it will be interesting to see whether the potential rewards of such capabilities increases investment in high-performance computing or whether the risk becomes more than organizations are willing to bear.
Posted by Jeffrey Schwartz on 09/24/2008