Intel Cluster Ready Program

The problems you solve are challenging, both in scope and in size. The architecture supporting your workloads should not add complexity. Your IT should simply work.

Dell has been a leader in the simplification and standardization of cluster-based architectures for over a decade. Working with Intel and others, Dell provides production-ready systems for all sizes of operations, markets and workloads, including High Performance Computing (HPC). Dell HPC clusters and the Intel^® Cluster Ready program deliver powerful solutions for departmental and workgroup computing.

The Intel Cluster Ready program offers an additional level of confidence to cluster-based deployments. Certified Intel Cluster Ready architectures and registered Independent Software Vendor (ISV) applications have been tested together to help ensure that both the system and the applications will work as expected — out of the box.

Dell is an integral partner in the Intel Cluster Ready program. Taking advantage of years of Dell cluster engineering experience and expertise, Intel developed the Cluster Ready program to help simplify sizing, configuration, deployment, management and maintenance for departmental and workgroup-sized clusters.

Dell builds HPC clusters with best-of-breed options, including interconnections, operating environments and middleware. Intel Cluster Ready certification includes comprehensive testing and integration work, enabling Dell HPC clusters with Intel Cluster Ready certification to simplify acquisition and deployment. Your Intel Cluster Ready Dell HPC cluster is ready to run with all Intel Cluster Ready registered applications.

In recent testing, a single Dell cluster certified for the Intel Cluster Ready program successfully ran eight different applications from six different software vendors, without requiring reconfiguration or changes to the cluster.
 

Clusters are purpose-built and are typically designed to support one or more complex workloads. The goal is to deliver both performance and productivity, which can help your business unit, engineering department and/or lab team to solve complex problems and produce fast results, while you maintain cost control. Dell HPC architectures, certified for the Intel Cluster Ready program, are designed with this goal in mind. This complete solution is designed to improve time-to-productivity through a tightly integrated package of certified configurations that have been tested and tuned to run all Intel Cluster Ready registered applications.

An Intel Cluster Ready certified system is designed to maintain productivity over the life of a deployment. The Intel Cluster Checker tool integrates configuration checks and health monitoring tools in a complete, automated package. Intel Cluster Checker validates configurations and performance, both at initial deployment and throughout a system's lifecycle, including scale-out additions. This helps reduce overall costs, including system management and support costs, and helps reduce the need for specialized services or personnel.

Dell is committed to providing energy-efficient platform architectures. Dell's latest Intel Cluster Ready-certified cluster utilizes PowerEdge™ M600 blade servers, one of the most energy-efficient blade products on the market, with Intel® Xeon® processors. It is possible to have high performance computing and energy efficiency at the same time.

A system is more than the sum of its parts. The Dell HPC partner ecosystem provides a foundation for delivering complete solutions you can count on. Dell extended partnerships also helped lead the development and delivery of the Intel Cluster Ready program. Dell's Intel Cluster Ready partners include the following:

• Clustercorp
• Platform Computing
• Red Hat
• Panasas
• Mellanox
• QLogic
• ANSYS
• CD-adapco
• ESI Group
• Livermore Software Technology Corporation (LSTC)
• MSC Software
• SIMULIA

This growing ecosystem of partners provides leading technologies and best practices, helping to ensure the success of your cluster.

Cluster Ready = Production Ready = Results Ready

The purpose of high performance computing is to get work done — to aid in analysis and decision making, enhance productivity and deliver results. Time spent deploying, modifying and/or managing an HPC cluster is time taken away from getting results. Dell HPC clusters and the Intel Cluster Ready program help improve time-to-results by providing powerful, tested and certified clusters that are easy to deploy, manage and maintain over the life of the cluster.

To learn more about Dell HPC clusters and Intel Cluster Ready, contact your Dell sales representative or email intel_cluster_ready@dell.com. More information about the Intel Cluster Ready specification and Intel Cluster Checker tool is available.

Sample Dell-Certified Intel Cluster Ready Configurations:

• Dell PowerEdge M610/M1000e Blade System with InfiniBand and Clustercorp Rocks+ 5.1
• Dell PowerEdge M610/M1000e Blade System with Gigabit Ethernet and Clustercorp Rocks+ 5.1
• Dell PowerEdge R610 with InfiniBand and Clustercorp Rocks+ 5.1
• Dell PowerEdge R610 with Gigabit Ethernet and Clustercorp Rocks+ 5.1

• Dell PowerEdge R410 with InfiniBand and Platform Cluster Manager
• Dell PowerEdge R410 with Gigabit Ethernet and Platform Cluster Manager
• Dell PowerEdge M610/M1000e Blade System with InfiniBand and Platform Cluster Manager
• Dell PowerEdge M610/M1000e Blade System with Gigabit Ethernet and Platform Cluster Manager
• Dell PowerEdge R610 with InfiniBand and Platform Cluster Manager
• Dell PowerEdge R610 with Gigabit Ethernet and Platform Cluster Manager