Massive Compute Power, at $1/CPU-hr

On March 13, Sun announced Network.com and the Network.com Application Catalog. Sun Inner Circle asked Kris Thorleifsson, Sun's group marketing manager for Network.com, to explain the new services and what they mean for users, ISVs, and developers.

Inner Circle (IC): What is Network.com?

Thorleifsson: Network.com enables communities of scientists and academics in life sciences, education, manufacturing, and other fields to easily accelerate innovation, and get research done faster and cheaper. It's an HPC supercomputing resource that delivers immediate online access to popular ISV and open source applications used by researchers in their daily work and provides access to a powerful compute grid. The portal gives users everything they need to conduct complex computational tasks and analysis to help speed scientific discovery. Just select the application, bring your data, and get results fast!

IC: Can you give us a few examples of some applications that are available in the catalog today?

Thorleifsson: The Network.com Application Catalog is loaded with more than 20 HPC applications for life sciences, academic, and manufacturing users to try at minimal cost, such as SimBioSys' eHiTS, Mathspec's Rational Numbers, BLAST, FASTA, Glimmer, T-Coffee, GROMACS, fastDNAml, ElmerSolver, Impact, OFELI, Blender, CalculiX, to name a few. Sun is working with its ISV partners and has engaged with numerous open source communities to grow the list of available applications.

IC: What does this mean to users of HPC?

Thorleifsson: What Network.com does is it promotes wider use of HPC. Traditional users of HPC have been organizations that required investment in extensive resources to build and operate the IT infrastructure required for compute-intensive applications. If you were a start-up or an individual researcher, you had very limited access to HPC. By being able to access applications and compute power instantly via Network.com on a pay-per-use basis, we see the potential for HPC being available to many more users.

IC: What are the requirements to use Network.com?

Thorleifsson: It's really simple. Once your account is approved, you get access to the system via a Web portal. There is no membership fee, no contract obligation, and no hidden cost associated with having an account on Network.com. We only charge $1/CPU-hour for actual usage. If you don't use it, you don't pay. This is a resource that is available to you when you need it, with no prior reservation required. Just log on, and get going.

On the system, you can either tap into the applications that are published in what we call an Application Catalog, or you can bring and upload your own application to the grid. Then you upload your data, define the parameters, and get your job running. Once the job is completed, you can store the data on the system and download it. It's really just as simple as that. Currently the system is only available to users in the U.S, but we are working on making it available to users in other regions.

IC: Who benefits from Network.com?

Thorleifsson: The whole ecosystem benefits — both the end users, as well as the publishers of the software. Clearly the scientific community and researchers in academia and business, benefit from Network.com as they now have instant access to a suite of HPC applications and the compute resources in a pay-per-use model without having to invest in expensive IT infrastructure. But Network.com also presents a great opportunity for software vendors looking to deliver their HPC applications as an on-demand service to their users.

IC: How are you enabling ISVs to publish HPC applications to Network.com?

Thorleifsson: We make this really easy for them. Sun provides its ISV partners with toolkits, training, white papers, documentation, and access to Sun grid experts to get their applications up and running on Network.com powered by the Solaris 10 OS. We are really lowering the barrier for ISVs to enter the on-demand market and start delivering their HPC applications as a service. Sun is taking care of building, operating, and maintaining the infrastructure, leaving ISVs free to focus on what they do best — build great software.

IC: How do ISVs charge for their software on Network.com?

Thorleifsson: A key innovation is that Network.com delivers a new digital entitlement token system that greatly simplifies licensing of on-demand software. We are not dictating one licensing model for everyone, so each ISV partner can structure their on-demand licensing model as they see fit, and through Sun's HPC Solutions Center, we work with our ISV partners evaluating pay-per-use models. The end users acquire a license token from the ISV, and Sun charges $1/CPU-hour for the use of the infrastructure. We believe Network.com presents ISVs with a flexible and transparent model and an opportunity to grow their business.

IC: You mentioned open source applications being available on Network.com?

Thorleifsson: Yes, that's right. There are already a number of open source HPC applications available on Network.com today. We have joined a number of open source communities that are working HPC projects, and are working on getting those applications published to Network.com. We believe that Network.com presents a great opportunity to promote wider use of open source software, and an opportunity for open source communities to distribute their software.

This is going beyond just making your application downloadable on a Web site. Delivering it as an on-demand service takes open source to a new level. I should add that the Network.com infrastructure running takes advantage of Sun's open source software — Solaris 10 OS, and N1 Grid Engine software.

IC: Who can publish applications to Network.com?

Thorleifsson: Anyone. This is a truly open platform that allows commercial ISVs, open source communities, and individual developers alike to become publishers of apps. Even end users who bring their own homegrown applications and publish them in their private library can make their applications available in the public application catalog for the larger community to take advantage off, if they so choose. Network.com offers a distribution channel for HPC software to end-users. This is a win-win situation for everyone involved.

IC: Let's say I'm willing to use Network.com for a pilot project. What do I do?

Thorleifsson: First, go request an account on Network.com. Once in the system, you can either tap into the applications published in the application catalog, or you can upload your own application. There are a number of resources on Network.com that will help explain how to use the portal and the applications in the catalog.

I'd suggest viewing our Net Talk Take 10, or download the podcast interview about Network.com between Sun's Hal Stern, VP of Global Systems Engineering, and Jim Parkinson, VP of Collaboration and ISV Engineering. Then, create a user account at Network.com, pick your application and get started.

Software vendors can check out our Readiness Initiative and join the Sun Partner Advantage Program.

Developers can take a look at our Developer Resource Center and set up a Network.com account. Also everyone can follow my blog for developments about Network.com.