Date: Sun, 12 Dec 1999 18:57:44 -0600
From: Gabriel Broner <broner@sgi.com>
To: hpc-linux@corp.sgi.com
Subject: The hpc-linux alias


Hello,

I have created the alias hpc-linux@corp.sgi.com.  This alias has
people from several companies, labs, research institutions, etc.
The intention of this mail alias is for us to have a place to discuss 
Linux as the basis for a solution to support High Performance Computing.

We believe that a joint effort in Linux for HPC will benefit the
community.  Hardware vendors will benefit from not having to
develop unique expensive solutions.  Customers will benefit
from a standard (and more cost effective) solution that will not 
tie them to a single vendor.  Research labs can contribute to
the solution and will also benefit from a better solution than
what a single vendor will be able to afford.

At SGI, we are using Linux as the basis for our HPC clustering
offering, and (in a partitioned environment) as the basis for
our solution for supporting large systems.  We are adopting 
pieces that exist in the Linux community, and we are developing
the additional pieces that are needed.  We are starting to see 
interest in community cooperation and we would like to see more!

Thinking about possible next steps...  We have been collecting lists
of features we would like to see in Linux clusters for HPC.  It
would be great to match the list of requirements with the list
of groups working in specific areas.  We will be happy to maintain 
this list.  We could also offer to package a distribution of 
contributions coming from multiple sources.  

It would be good to hear opinions from people on this alias, and
hear about any related developments this group is aware of. 

This list was created with the people who said they were
interested in the discussion.  Feel free to forward this message
to other people who might be interested.  To subscribe, send a 
message to external-majordomo@corp.sgi.com with one line saying 
'subscribe hpc-linux'.  If you have problems, feel free to send 
me mail at broner@sgi.com.  

Besides myself, you can contact Lynne Johnson in my group, at
lynne@sgi.com.  Lynne is the project lead for our HPC Linux effort
and she will be happy to hear from you.

Looking forward to a good exchange of ideas,


Gabriel Broner
Director, Operating Systems Scalability
SGI
broner@sgi.com