ScaleMP unveiled an update to its existing virtual symmetric multiprocessing (vSMP) software in conjunction with further plans to dramatically increase its scalability into the higher realms of computing. Leveraging Intel’s Nehalem EX (Xeon 7500) and Westmere EP (Xeon 5600) processors the new vSMP Foundation 3.0 will eventually be able to support up to 128 physical nodes and VMs and 64 TB of shared memory. The software will soon have the extraordinary ability to handle over 16,000 virtual CPUs (hardware cores/threads) and will enable multiple InfiniBand HCA’s to run in tandem, allowing more equalized traffic over interconnections. The revamped vSMP Foundation 3.0 is a highly scalable and comparably inexpensive solution that may challenge other high performance computing (HPC) models on a performance per cost level.
By clustering off-the-shelf hardware ScaleMP is attempting to slash the cost of building an HPC for consumers. ScaleMP representatives have stated that with the new vSMP Foundation 3.0 software an HPC solution can cost as little as $300,000 (USD). However, with 128 nodes, this averages to around $2,300 per node, so this must be a much smaller cluster than the maximum. Even if the cost is greater than $300K the price of an HPC with standardized x86 processors is going to cost less than an HPC with specially designed hardware and RISC.
ScaleMP also announced increased functionality with a new tool titled VM-on-VM. This new feature layers Xen and KVM on the new vSMP Foundation 3.0 and offers increased resources, simpler management, and lower cost. Running VMs on segregated servers may not maximize resources because it is possible that a server has one VM with low CPU utilization while others may have multiple VMs with high CPU utilization. It is more efficient to aggregate the servers together first through the vSMP Foundation 3.0 and then open all the VMs on this shared infrastructure.
vSMP Foundation 3.0 will be released on June 14th and will support three Nehalem EX systems and up to 32 nodes. The 128 node version is to be released in the third quarter of 2010. A technology preview of VM-on-VM will be available on June 14th. The vSMP solution is impressive at its price point and should grab the attention of those looking to build an HPC at a fraction of the cost.
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