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Subject: Scyld Announces the First Commercial Release of its Next Generation 
From: Peter Bowen <pzb@scyld.com>
To: lwn@lwn.net
Date: 30 Jan 2001 10:44:48 -0500

FOR RELEASE IMMEDIATELY
CONTACT:        
Tom Quinn
Scyld Computing Corporation                                             
(410) 990-9993
quinn@scyld.com
http://www.scyld.com

Scyld Computing Corporation is Filling the Need For a Standard and
Supported High Performance Cluster Operating System

Scyld Announces the First Commercial Release of its Next Generation
Beowulf Cluster Operating System Called Scyld Beowulf

ANNAPOLIS, MD (January 29, 2001)- Scyld Computing Corporation today
released the first commercial version of its Scyld Beowulf Next
Generation Cluster Operating System software. The
first of quarterly planned releases, the Scyld Beowulf software provides
simplified cluster integration and setup, easy administration, and
seamless scalability.

Beowulf-style cluster systems are computers running open-source
operating systems that are networked together to form a parallel
processing supercomputer. The Scyld Beowulf distribution is
the next generation Beowulf operating system. It includes an enhanced
Linux kernel, libraries, and utilities specifically designed for
clustering. The Scyld Beowulf system provides a stable,
standard, supported platform for the deployment of advanced clustering
applications.

The Scyld Beowulf release and Scyld's formation is in response to a
driving market need for a cluster operating system for high performance
computing. The operating system is the next generation
of Beowulf style computing originally architected by Donald Becker,
Scyld's CTO, along with other Scyld developers who were also part of the
original Beowulf project at NASA.

With the Scyld Beowulf cluster operating system standard, many
industries will be able to write computational and data intensive
applications which can be applied on commodity hardware around
the world at significant price savings.

Patrick Webb, a Steering Committee Member of the Houston Technology
Center and CEO of the venture capital firm Enfinit Global Partners
stated, "With the Scyld Beowulf operating system as a
standard, many industries will be able to write computational and data
intensive applications that can be applied on commodity hardware around
the world at significant price savings from
traditional systems."

"Our mission at Scyld is to create software that will bring
high-performance computing to the marketplace", said Becker. "This
release significantly provides a strong, commong, standard
foundation upon which high performance parallel computing applications
and systems will grow. The result will stimulate deployment of turn-key
commercial applications".

Donald Becker and members of the original Beowulf team of developers
have since augmented Scyld with five other top-level NASA software and
systems engineers familiar with the discipline
and rigor it takes to develop and deploy truly "mission critical"
systems. "When you launch or re-enter a satellite, you only have one
chance to get it right." states Tom Quinn, ex-NASA employee
responsible for systems on over 4 satellites and the recent successful
re-entry of NASA'a Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. Now Director of
Operations and Business Development at Scyld,
Quinn states, "Our software engineering, development, quality control,
test methodologies, and support at Scyld is nothing short of the
processes we used at NASA to ensure a successful
mission."

Scyld released its "Preview" edition of Scyld Beowulf software at the
Atlanta Linux Showcase on October 11, 2000. Since the release, Scyld has
received world-wide interest and positive
feedback about the advanced technology and features of its product.

The preview release featured Scyld Beowulf's core technologies and
features. Scyld Beowulf enhances the Linux kernel with features that
allow users to start, observe, and control processes on
cluster nodes from the cluster's front-end computer while supporting
standard Linux interfaces and tools. The result is that the cluster
appears to be more like a single multiprocessor computer to
a user or developer. This reduces the cost of cluster application
development, testing, training, and administration. The system is also
simple to install, update and scale based on Scyld's unique
cluster installation and slave boot software.

Joe Barr of Linuxworld states, "The most amazing thing I saw on the
exhibit room floor (of ALS) was probably the transformation of the email
garden into a Beowulf cluster. Honest. And it only
took about 10 or 15 minutes for Scyld Computing to convert the machines
on the LAN into a supercomputer."

This latest release adds many new features over the preview including
slave node power and state controls to ease administrative tasks, user
and group permissions to allow cluster sharing and
security, improved GUI and command line tools for setup and
administration, improved diagnostics and run-time status reporting to
help optimize cluster performance, broader hardware support
with updated driver packages, and tools for easy hardware compatibility
checks and demonstrations. These improvements and many others show
Scyld's commitment to providing the best
operating system and tools for Beowulf clustering.

Scyld has formed, and is in the process of forming, partnerships and
alliances with over two dozen corporations around the world including
experienced traditional high performance computer
providers and system integrators such as API, Compaq, Microway,
Paralogic, Aspen Systems, Atipa, eLinux, Linux Networx, Myricom, PSSC
Labs, VA Linux, and Cendio Systems amongst
others. The interest from traditional parallel application and tool
providers has been great and is leading to partnerships and alliances
with MPI-Softtech, Wolfram (Mathematica), Backbone
Networks, NAMD, and Veridian. Scyld has a formal "Authorized Vendor"
Program where it certifies, trains and teams with system vendors to
provide off-the-shelf, fully integrated and supported
turn-key cluster systems.

About Scyld Computing Corporation

Scyld Computing Corporation is the leading developer of second
generation Beowulf cluster operating systems. Donald Becker, CTO, and
Scyld developers are known in the Linux community for
their extensive contributions to the Linux kernel. Based in Annapolis,
Maryland, Scyld is a privately held company. Further information may be
obtained at www.scyld.com. Scyld Beowulf and Scyld
Computing are registered trademarks of Scyld Computing Corporation.

About Beowulf

Beowulf, and Beowulf clustering are terms that describe a technique of
connecting commodity computers together using a modified version of
Linux, to create a High Performance Computer.
Started in 1993, by Donald Becker and Thomas Sterling, early development
was sponsored by NASA. In 1997, Beowulf clusters broke the ten billion
operations per second mark, and today can
perform over 200 billion operations per second. Today, there are tens of
thousands of Beowulf clusters installed in government, educational, and
commercial facilities. Beowulf is a descriptive
service mark held by Linux International.