LayeredTech Introduces Super GridBy Justin Lee, theWHIR.com
August 21, 2007 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Grid computing, and its utility computing implementation, is not a new technology. But despite widespread interest, and the progress the technology has recently made into the hosting space, the technology has yet to really take off in the Web hosting business.
Jeremy Suo-Anttila, CTO of Layered Technologies, says that this is because some enterprise firms have not effectively planned their data center builds. This is why Layered Technologies (layeredtech.com) and 3Tera (3tera.com) have developed what they call the world’s largest virtual private data center.
“The Super Grid was initially brought up to test the scalability of the grid backbone and the limitations of the development of that,” says Suo-Anttila.
The Super Grid VDPC provides a cost-effective solution for enterprise customers seeking the complete control and visibility of running their own data center, without the complications of actually running the equipment.
Controlled through a browser, the VPDC consists of 443 CPUs, 920GB RAM and 47 terabytes of storage using Intel platforms running with 3tera’s Applogic software platform.
Layered Technologies first started working on the VDPC with 3Tera last July with a 48-node grid, says Suo-Anttila, which increased substantially after HP debuted a new ProCurve networking switch that allowed the build to reach 128 nodes.
The Super Grid eliminates the need for enterprises to build out new facilities or lease colocation space. Most importantly, it offers a scalable solution for users. Recent benchmarking results revealed the solution can easily scale from 10 servers to more than 100 servers without significant performance issues.
“That grid itself can be used to the smallest grid configuration we offer, which is only 4-nodes, or it can be scaled up to 64 or 100-plus nodes if you’re willing to push the edge with technology,” says Suo-Anttila.
Together with 3Tera, Layered Technologies demonstrated the benchmark results of the virtual data center at last month’s HostingCon in Chicago, Illinois. Layered Technologies set up the virtual data center on 116 commodity servers in a grid environment.
Layered Technologies is slowly signing up customers for the Super Grid, enabling them to achieve ROI quickly by reducing their capital investment, total cost of ownership, labor reduction, training and floor space, says Suo-Anttila.
So far, a diverse range of companies have been taking advantage of the VPDC, including content delivery companies, email services providers, collaboration sites, media companies and social networks, who have all purchased grid space.
“We haven’t sold a big portion of it yet, as in one person to come along and take up the entire thing,” says Suo-Anttila. “We’ve been selling a bunch of smaller virtual private data centers to individuals and companies that have the ability to scale up to full resources that are there. Performance-wise, we’re very pleased with it.”
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