gridMathematica Provides Cost-Effective Mathematica Software for Grids

November 19, 2002--With the release of gridMathematica, Wolfram Research offers a complete parallel computing solution for dedicated grids or clusters. It offers a highly cost-effective way of deploying Mathematica for parallel computations. gridMathematica can run on any cluster of machines, including Unix, Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X, and requires no more than TCP/IP connectivity.

According to Roman Maeder, creator of Parallel Computing Toolkit (a key component of gridMathematica), "One of my main motivations for writing this package was to make parallel computing easily available to a wide range of workgroups. gridMathematica provides companies and government institutions with affordable Mathematica licensing and simplified maintenance that matches the evolution of declining hardware costs and increasing accessibility of clusters."

This common-sense approach resonates well with customers and industry leaders. "Sun Microsystems, a long-time platform partner of Wolfram Research, is excited about the scalability that gridMathematica offers to high-end users. We are seeing increasing demand for vast simulations and computations. gridMathematica and Sun's product line--from Linux-based LX50 blade servers to 64-bit SPARC server clusters--provide the scalable solution customers need," states Joerg Schwarz, Senior Group Manager for Scientific and Engineering Computing at Sun Microsystems.

The benefits of gridMathematica go beyond pure number crunching. Notes Theodore Gray, Director of User Interfaces at Wolfram Research, "For Stephen Wolfram's keynote at COMDEX 2002, we were able to create intricate animations of cellular automata in mere hours. After writing and testing code on an iMac, we moved it over to a 16-way Xserve cluster running Mac OS X Server, thereby cutting calculation time from days to less than an hour. Performance gains like this open up new opportunities for Macintosh users in science, engineering, and the arts."

"Apple's new Xserve running Mac OS X Server provides a superior and cost-effective platform for parallel computing solutions such as gridMathematica," says Ron Okamoto, Apple's Vice President of Worldwide Developer Relations. "The Unix-based architecture and ease of use of Mac OS X delivers a powerful platform that scales from single-user solutions to clustered environments."

gridMathematica supports all common parallel programming paradigms, such as virtual shared or distributed memory, automatic or explicit scheduling, and concurrency, including synchronization, locking, and latency hiding. Other features include machine-independent implementation and parallel functional programming as well as failure recovery and automatic reassignment of stranded processes in the event of a system failure.

Says Roger Germundsson, Director of Research and Development at Wolfram Research, "gridMathematica is the result of working closely with some of our key customers and reacting to their needs. By introducing gridMathematica as an integrated product, we have been able to simplify deployment from procurement to installation. We will build on this foundation by providing further additions such as training classes and other services."

See the product web pages for additional information.