SuSE delivers Linux 8

SuSE Linux on Tuesday announced it has been selected to contribute to the development of the TeraGrid, a series of interconnected clusters, which will allow thousands of scientists to share computing resources over a network focused on breakthroughs in the life sciences and other technical markets.

Helping to power the grid will be the Oakland, Calif., company's Linux Enterprise Server 8.0 For The Itanium Processor Family, which company officials also announced shipped on Tuesday. The new version is designed to take full advantage of Intel's 64-bit Itanium chip.

Officials at Intel, in Santa Clara, Calif., were happy at delivery of the new version saying it should spur further interest in the chip among OEMs and corporate users for engaging in more sophisticated Linux-based solutions as well as boosting its own chip sales.

"Server 8 for the Itanium 2 should broaden the scope of Linux offerings on the Itanium processor family, giving users more opportunity to develop and deploy higher-end 64-bit Linux-based solutions," said Lisa Graff, director of Enterprise Procesor Marketing for Intel's Enterprise Platform Group.

Funded by the National Science Foundation, the Distributed Terascale Facility (DFT) represents the joint effort of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, the San Diego Supercomputing Center, The Argonne National Laboratory, and the California Institute of Technology.

SuSE's part of the deal comes in concert with IBM Global Services, which will be deploying clusters of SuSE Linux at the four DTF sites. Those servers will be based on current and future Itanium 2 processors from Intel IBM's supercomputing software, called CSM and GPFS, and will be responsible for handling cluster and file management duties. Myricom'sMyrinet interconnect product will make interprocessor communications possible, according to a company spokesman.

The system is expected to be capable of holding as much as 600TB of information. Much of the grid's storage infrastructure will be enabled by IBM's Total Storage series of products, a company spokesman said.

SuSE Linux 8.0 for the Itanium Processor Family includes full documentation and the company's maintenance program for 12 months. Priced at $749 per server, the product will be available by the end of the month directly from SuSE or through the company's network of partners.

Company officials today said they plan to ship its SuSE 8.2 desktop version of Linux for both business users and consumers on April 24.