Content area
Full Text
High-performance computing is emerging as a critical IT need at many large companies that use simulation and virtualization to design and test their products. But there's a growing gap between the hardware and software capabilities in HPC systems.
Although hardware vendors can build systems with hundreds or even thousands of processors, many of the HPC applications developed by software vendors typically utilize only 12 or 16 processors in parallel, according to IT managers who attended a conference here last week. That view was echoed in a newly released IDC report.
"Hardware is getting there," said Thomas Lange, director of corporate research and development, modeling and simulation at The Procter & Gamble Co. "Software is way behind."
If companies such as Cincinnati-based P&G could test new products in fully computergenerated environments, they might be able to reduce development time and bring goods to market more quickly.
But, Lange said, "our need for speed is huge."...