ScaleMP has a different take on virtualization

When most of us think about virtualization, we think about server partitioning: slicing up a single physical machine into multiple virtual machines that share the resources of the underlying host server. In this way, we make many machines out of one.

But virtualization solution provider ScaleMP has a different take on virtualization. Instead of partitioning, ScaleMP leverages its virtualization technology by aggregating multiple standard x86 servers into one virtual environment. With that, this high-end computing virtualization specialist has created a program that it calls the vSMP Foundation.

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vSMP Foundation uses blade or rack-mounted servers and ties them together with InfiniBand fabric. In doing so, it combines entry-level systems into a coherent memory space to reduce the total cost of ownership and deliver on the performance advantages found within the High Performance Computing (HPC) market. vSMP Foundation supports aggregation of up to 16 servers into a single virtual SMP system, providing customers with up to 4TB of shared memory for large memory requirements, and it supports virtual systems ranging from four to 32 processors (up to 128 cores) for plenty of processing power.

vSMP Foundation also simplifies the management and day-to-day maintenance since you have only one virtualized system to manage instead of multiple virtual machines on multiple physical host servers. According to the company, it installs with less than 15 minutes of downtime and requires no customization.

With the launch of Intel’s Xeon 5500 series processor (codenamed Nehalem), Intel has integrated memory controllers onto the cores and increased its performance. Now ScaleMP is making use of this technology by announcing qualification and support for more than 10 server platforms based on the latest Nehalem processors. vSMP Foundation supports new Nehalem servers from Appro, Cray, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Sun, and Supermicro.

“I am very happy to say that shortly after launch of the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series by Intel, vSMP Foundation virtualization software was able to support many server offerings utilizing the new Intel Xeon processor 5500 series. A significant number of customers are running these systems in production,” said Shai Fultheim, founder and CEO of ScaleMP. “It is a clear validation of our approach to scalable high-end computing, where virtualization can replace the costly and time-consuming approach of building customized high-end systems.”

ScaleMP offers a list of supported hardware on its Web site.