SUPERCOMPUTING 2006, Tampa, FL - November 13, 2006 – Platform Computing announces the ISV enablement program, an industry-wide strategy designed to simplify the engineering, deployment and support of entry-level HPC clusters for ISVs and non-savvy end-users through pre-integration and certification of commoditized building blocks. The successful architecture design and reference implementation of a consistent and replicable cluster software stack will enable broad support of leading ISV applications and hardware platforms.

The success of Linux clusters and the advent of the open source cluster has caused a proliferation of choice for users. However, the lack of a consistent application experience is one of the remaining barriers to widespread cluster adoption in many industries. The Platform Open Cluster Stack(1) (OCS) reference architecture enables simpler development for software developers and allows vendors to offer the flexibility of Linux and open source with the support framework users want. Customers will now be able to use a wide variety of third party applications and the cluster configuration they want with Platform Open Cluster Stack.

"As the program expands, a variety of software and hardware vendors will be included, allowing users to select from an ever-growing list of Platform OCS-compatible offerings," said Chris Purpura, Vice President of Strategic Alliances and New Ventures, Platform. "Cluster vendors themselves will benefit, as they will have a consistent platform upon which to build stable APIs and an increased ability to differentiate in a meaningful and profitable way."

"Dell has taken a leadership position to help simplify the deployment of high-performance compute clusters for customers," said Judy Chavis, Director of Business Development and Global Alliances, Dell. "By bundling this reference architecture and Platform OCS as a part of our HPCC program we will empower our customers to deploy more software applications, while maintaining the same high level of service and support they have come to expect from Dell."

"The Intel MPI Library runtime IS a core component of Platform OCS," said Bill Magro, Director of Cluster Software and Technologies, Intel. "As part of Platform OCS, this allows ISV applications to support a broad range of networking interconnects without the burden of multiple application binaries to manage and test. This is an important first step toward consistency of experience, which will remove a key adoption barrier and make the benefits of Intel Architecture cluster computing more accessible to every organization."

"The reference architecture simply makes sense as differentiation now lies with the whole product solution and is centered around support and services and not engineered performance," said Gary Tyreman, Vice President, Platform. "Without a standard, replicable software stack, development for Linux-based HPC clusters can be extremely difficult. By offering a single reference to a product perfectly tailored for its audience, we have made clusters significantly easier to use and enabled a new class of users to acquire and use the technology for a growing set of problems."

Platform Open Cluster Stack is a modular and hybrid stack that transparently integrates open source and commercial software into a single consistent cluster operating environment. Platform OCS is a pre-integrated, vendor certified software stack that assures the consistent delivery of scale-out application clusters.

For information on Platform OCS please visit http://www.platform.com/OCS

About Platform Computing
Platform Computing is the leading systems infrastructure software company that accelerates applications and delivers IT agility for increased business performance and reduced cost. Founded in 1992, Platform is a pioneer in HPC, Cluster and Grid Computing technologies. Platform has over 2000 global customers and strategic relationships with Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Novell, Red Hat and SAS, along with the industry's broadest support for third-party applications. For more information please visit www.platform.com.

1 - This product includes software developed by the Rocks Cluster Group at the San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego and its contributors.

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