Powered by United Devices Grid MP On Demand(TM) Service, Rapid Prototypes
Saves Money by 'Renting' Compute Time on 7,000-Node Gateway Grid
POWAY, Calif. and AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Rapid
Prototypes, Inc., a turnkey electronic product design services company, is
analyzing the design of backplanes for next-generation optical switching
equipment -- and saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process --
thanks to its use of the grid-computing service from Gateway, Inc. and United
Devices.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020930/LAM050LOGO )
Rapid Prototypes is using Gateway Processing on Demand(SM) (GPOD) grid
service, backed by United Device's Grid MP Alliance(TM) platform, to develop
some of the world's fastest commercial field programmable gateway array (FPGA)
applications.
FPGAs are integrated circuits (ICs) that can be programmed in the field
after they've been manufactured. They allow engineers to design specialized
ICs that can later be produced hard-wired in large quantities for distribution
to computer manufacturers and end users. In this case, Rapid Prototypes is
analyzing backplane systems for next generation Internet switching equipment.
"GPOD allows us to simulate very high-speed electronics, without investing
in expensive new hardware," said Brian Von Herzen, Ph.D., president of Rapid
Prototypes. "Because the performance is faster with the grid, we are able to
produce even higher quality results for our clients while passing on the cost
savings this speed of production allows."
Conceived as a technique to process information normally handled by
supercomputers, grid computing links thousands of PCs to collectively share
processing power. Gateway's grid service launched December 2002, joining
nearly 7,000 computers in Gateway retail stores across the United States.
GPOD ranks among the top 10 largest supercomputers in the world by processing
power, producing more than 11 TFLOPS (trillion floating point operations per
second) at peak capacity, with most nodes averaging 2.0 GHz or better.
Rapid Prototypes conserves costs by renting just the amount of compute
time the company needs. In essence, Rapid achieves the computation power its
applications require without purchasing a large hardware infrastructure.
Gateway provides the hardware backbone for the GPOD service, while United
Device's Grid MP Alliance platform provides the virtual operating system for
the grid.
"The beauty of this solution is that Rapid Prototypes can quickly design
integrated circuits without investing upfront capital building their own
technology infrastructure," said Scott Weinbrandt, senior vice president of
Gateway's Enterprise Systems Division. "Companies pay only for the processing
power they need to solve their complex computational problems."
"This announcement demonstrates yet another application and industry that
can exploit grid computing to achieve tangible and significant business
savings," said Paul Kirchoff, vice president of marketing at United Devices.
"Electronic design automation is a perfect example of such a compute-intensive
application area. This is real utility computing in action."
The Gateway Processing on Demand(SM) service is competitively priced based
on processor hours used and does not require any long-term or minimum-usage
commitments. For more information, go to
http://gateway.com/work/services/pod.shtml or http://www.ud.com/alliance .
About United Devices
United Devices is the market leader in secure grid solutions. The
company's Grid MP platform is used to aggregate compute resources on a network
to create an enterprise grid capable of running a wide range of
high-performance computing applications in life sciences, geosciences,
manufacturing, financial services, chemical engineering and other industries.
The company's solutions are available in both enterprise and on-demand
deployments. United Devices also operates the world's largest Grid for
grand-scale research that consists of more than 2.5 million devices in over
220 countries. For more information on secure grid solutions, visit the
United Devices Web site http://www.ud.com . To volunteer your idle compute power,
visit http://www.grid.org .
About Gateway
Since its founding in 1985, Gateway (NYSE: GTW) has been a technology and
direct-marketing pioneer, using its call centers, web site and retail network
to build direct customer relationships. As a branded integrator of
personalized technology solutions, Gateway offers consumers, businesses and
schools a wide range of thin TVs, digital cameras, connected DVD players,
enterprise systems and other products, which work together seamlessly with its
award-winning line of PCs. Gateway is America's second most admired computer
company, according to Fortune magazine(1), and its products and services
received nearly 130 awards and honors last year. Visit http://www.gateway.com for
more information.
About Rapid Prototypes
Rapid Prototypes provides high-performance design solutions for electronic
products, including telecommunications, real-time signal analysis, and
commercial electronic product development. Often these high-performance
products involve the use of programmable logic devices, including FPGAs.
Since its founding in 1993, Rapid Prototypes ( http://www.FPGA.com ) has been a
technology leader in high-performance system design, with product designs
shipping in the fields of telecommunications, electronic test equipment,
consumer electronics and high-definition digital video equipment. Rapid
Prototypes pushes the limits of speed and density achievable in today's
integrated circuits, offering reduced time to market through the use of
programmable logic devices. Visit http://www.FPGA.com for more information.
(1) Source: Fortune magazine, March 3, 2003 issue
SOURCE Gateway, Inc.; United Devices
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Related links:
http://www.gateway.com
Photo Notes:
NewsCom:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020930/LAM050LOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
CONTACT:
Ted Ladd of Gateway, Inc., +1-858-848-2515,
ted.ladd@gateway.com ; or Vanessa McMillan of United Devices,
mobile, +1-512-731-7005, vanessa@ud.com
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