World’s Largest Grid Computing Software Provider
Partners with Industry Leaders to Promote Virtualized Enterprise
IT
Toronto, ON – April 5, 2006 – Platform Computing (www.platform.com), the global leader in
enterprise grid computing, today announced that it has launched the
Platform Alliance Network, an innovative partnership program designed
to build a broad ecosystem to deliver virtualization solutions for the
Datacenter. Platform also announced new partner additions to the
network: CSC, Novell, Red Hat, VMware, Wipro, and Dell China.
Enterprise IT departments are increasingly turning to virtualization
of IT resources as a key strategy to meet the changing needs of the
business and build sustainable competitive advantage. IT resource
orchestration and virtualization management products such as Platform
Enterprise Grid Orchestrator (EGO) and Platform VM Orchestrator (VMO),
provide single, cohesive management environments that automate the
allocation of resources across a grid platform to optimize utilization
and deliver accelerated results from mission-critical
applications.
The Platform Alliance Network provides the framework within which
partners can take advantage of these industry-leading solutions to
virtualize and grid enable their offerings for the enterprise IT
market. Unifying Platform’s existing partner offerings, the Platform
Alliance Network supports new and existing partners in the categories
of Independent Software Vendors, System Integrators, Resellers,
Hardware Vendors and Service Providers. Through the Platform Alliance
Network, Platform and its partners will build complementary, flexible,
heterogeneous solutions through product integration and validation,
partner certification, software and hardware optimization, and content
development. As a result, joint customers will benefit from the
combined strengths of Platform and its partners across all product
sets.
Offering three distinct levels of participation, as well as programs
targeted for each type of partner, the Platform Alliance Network allows
companies to choose the amount of commitment that makes the most sense
for them, ensuring that benefits are matched to the specific needs of
each participant. Among these benefits are co-marketing opportunities,
sales training, lead registration, partner support and access to
Platform products. The release of developer editions of Symphony,
Enterprise Grid Orchestrator and LSF through the Alliances Network
offer partners rapid integration and extensibility options, as well as
early access to new products and releases. Using these tools, ISV’s can
quickly enable their solutions to give their customers dynamic
computing resource management, increased application performance, and
improved service level delivery defined for their business units.
"As Platform continues to take a leadership position in the
convergence between Service Oriented Applications (SOA) and Service
Oriented Infrastructure (SOI), a reorganization of, and deeper
commitment to, our partner ecosystem is essential to the execution of
our vision," said Chris Purpura, Vice President – Strategic Alliances
and New Ventures of Platform Computing. "The adoption of Linux and
Windows Clusters, the rise of multi-core chipsets, and the spread of
various virtualization technologies provide unparalleled opportunities
for IT departments to reduce costs, but these technologies will only
work at an enterprise scale if applications can be made to run on these
environments in a managed and orchestrated manner. The Partner Alliance
Network will provide our ecosystem partners with streamlined access to
our technologies and expertise in these areas."
About Platform Computing
Platform Computing, the global leader in 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, Intel, Novell, Red Hat, SAS and VMware, and the
Industry’s broadest application integration support. More information
about Platform can be found at www.platform.com.
Platform Alliance Network – Quote Sheet
IBM
"IBM and Platform have been working together for the past five years
to bring advanced grid technologies to businesses around the world,"
said Tamara Crawford, IBM's Program Director of Grid Ecosystem
Strategy. "IBM is pleased to be a part of the newly minted Platform
Alliance Network, which will drive new innovations in this space for
our joint clients."
Dassault Systems
"As grid computing continues its upward climb as a high priority IT
investment, Platform Computing is a global partner that we can rely on
to efficiently meet our customers demand for acceleration of their
computationally intensive PLM processes," said Michael Moser, Software
Partner Marketing Manager, Dassault Systèmes. "The combination of our
V5 PLM offering along with Platform's leading grid technology can
provide a unique competitive advantage. By leveraging the power of grid
computing, we help our customers to take maximum advantage of V5
PLM."
Intel
"Intel is pleased to be part of the newly launched Platform Alliance
Network. Intel and Platform work together to deliver the benefits of
Enterprise IT virtualization, and we look forward to collaborating with
them in order to deliver even higher value solutions and benefits to
end users" said Robert Fogel, Worldwide Director of Grid Strategy &
Business Development, Intel Corporation.
Novell
"Novell is delighted to be part of the Platform Alliance Network,"
said Hal Bennett, Vice President of Global Partners and Alliances for
Novell. "Novell and Platform are both committed to delivering
innovative virtualization solutions that reduce cost and increase
flexibility for our joint customers. Our partnership with Platform is
another step toward Novell's vision of delivering a policy-driven
adaptive data center."
SAS
"SAS is pleased to be a part of the newly established Platform
Alliance Network," said Frank Nauta, Director of Data Integration at
SAS. "As the market leading BI vendor, SAS recently launched SAS grid
Manager based on Platform's grid middleware. Working within Platform's
expanding partner ecosystem is an natural next step to speed the
adoption SAS grid-enabled solutions to help our customers achieve
unparalleled cost-effectiveness and dramatically accelerate the Power
to Know TM."
Platform Accelerate