Platform Computing Inc., the largest distributed and grid computing
software vendor, continued to capitalize on its momentum in the
Financial Services (FS) industry with the announcement today of the
next generation of Platform Symphony: version 2.2, featuring key
updates that enable FS organizations to transform IT resources into
efficient Enterprise Grids.
Platform also announced record annual growth in the FS sector for FY
2005 fueled by new customer wins, including BNP Paribas and UFJ Japan,
as well as the expansion of existing customer accounts such as JPMorgan
Chase. Key to this growth was the formation of strategic partnerships
with leading independent software vendors (ISVs) Catalyst, Summit
Systems and Murex.
“Our recently completed fiscal year was led by continued momentum and
growth in our Financial Services business,” said Robert Shecterle, VP
of marketing for Platform Computing. “As a company, we have a rich
tradition of technology leadership and innovation across multiple
industries, such as electronics and industrial manufacturing, providing
the most advanced enterprise grid computing solutions needed to
maximize IT investments for real competitive advantage. With the
introduction of this new version of Platform Symphony 2.2, we are
continuing to establish ourselves as the leading enterprise grid vendor
in Financial Services, expanding our offering to establish a
standards-based common architecture. Our FS customers will now be able
to solidify their competitive advantage in the market by more
effectively accelerating and managing workloads, gaining visibility
into cluster operations and ultimately reducing their IT costs while
increasing profitability.”
Enterprise Grid is a heterogeneous, “always on,” virtual computing
pool where resources are dynamically matched to evolving business
needs. Enterprise Grid makes use of infrastructure software that sits
between mission-critical applications and computing resources. This
grid layer, known as the Virtual Execution Machine (VEM™), manages the
workloads from the applications and dynamically allocates tasks to
available resources according to business priorities. VEM provides an
infrastructure engineered to run the widest range of application types,
sharing workloads across one large-scale virtual infrastructure
comprised of the many hundreds, or thousands, of CPUs within the
organization.
Platform Symphony™ version 2.2 is the latest version of the Platform
Symphony enterprise grid software solution that virtualizes and
distributes application services across existing heterogeneous IT
resources creating a shared, scalable and reliable infrastructure.
Platform Symphony 2.2 delivers enhanced performance, new functionality,
and simplified management to grid-enabled application workloads atop
the rock-solid VEM (Virtual Execution Machine) providing a
high-performing, stable and compatible grid computing environment. Its
built-in capabilities align IT optimization with business objectives,
enabling organizations to effectively eliminate traditional
infrastructure bottlenecks, resulting in improved QoS (Quality of
Service), increased revenue and decreased costs. Platform Symphony 2.2
ensures policy-driven, prioritized service levels for always-on, 24x7
access to resources.
New updates in version 2.2 include:
- Ownership with Sharing: The industry’s first grid
software to guarantee local control and ownership of resources while
maximizing sharing and resource usage across applications, business
units and sites, facilitating both testing and production
environments.
- Enhanced Performance and Scalability: As it relates to
linear application performance, as task throughput increases, near 100%
utilization is maintained regardless of how large the grid grows.
- New Intuitive Management GUI: simplifies application
grid enablement and management.
Platform Symphony was recently honored with the prestigious Banker
Award for ROI of the Year in 2005, and also received the ClusterWorld
Excellence in Cluster Technology Award in 2004.
Platform achieved unprecedented growth in Financial Services in FY05
through new customer acquisition, expansion at existing customer
accounts and the addition of several key partners. In addition to new
customer wins such as BNP Paribas, HSBC, HBK Investments LP and UFJ
Japan, existing Platform customers – including JPMorgan Chase, Société
Générale, Sal Oppenheim and others – expanded the scope of their grid
deployments. Platform Enterprise Grid solutions are currently deployed
in 5 of the world’s top 20 investment banks.
Additionally, Platform forged key strategic partnerships and completed
technical integrations with leading application partners such as Murex,
Summit Systems, Calypso, Catalyst, Tillinghast, GGY, Imagine and
Codefarm enabling it to offer the benefits of its Enterprise Grid
solution to an even greater audience of Financial Services
companies.
Platform Computing, the global leader in distributed and grid
computing solutions, helps enterprises accelerate key business
applications, reduce operational and capital costs, guarantee service
levels and optimize their IT resources. Platform's integrated desktop
and enterprise grid software solutions are used by over 1,700 customers
worldwide in the financial services, government, industrial
manufacturing, electronics and life science industries to deliver
higher quality products and services, improve business performance and
maximize the return on IT investments. Founded in 1992, Platform has
strategic relationships with Dell, HP, IBM, Apple, SAS and SGI, and the
Industry's broadest application integration support. For more
information visit http://www.platform.com.
