Platform Computing: Difference between revisions

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{{InfoboxShort description|Software company in Canada}}

{{Infobox company

| status = [[Acquired]]

| successorfate = Acquired =by [[IBM]]

| company_namename = Platform Computing |

| logo = [[File:Platform Computer logo.gif]] |

| company_typetype = [[Private company|Private]] |

| foundation = [[Toronto]], Ontario, Canada]] (1992) |

| key_people = [http://www.platform.com/company/leadership-team/ Leadership team] |

| ___location = [[Markham, Ontario]], [[Canada]] |

| num_employees = 530 <ref name="Platform Computing">{{cite web |url= http://www.platform.com/company/corporate-facts |title=Platform Computing Inc. Corporate Facts |accessdateaccess-date=2011-04-03}}</ref> |

| industry = [[Cloud computing]], [[High performance computing]], [[Distributed computing]], [[Grid computing]], [[Computer software]] |

| products = Platform ISF, [[Load Sharing Facility|Platform LSF]], [[Symphony (software)|Platform Symphony]], Platform Cluster Manager, Platform Manager, Platform MPI|

| revenue = {{increase}} $71.6 million [[United States dollar|USD]] (2010) <ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.branham300.com/details.php?year=2011&company_ID=62 |title=2011 Branham300 Online - Platform Computing Details |accessdateaccess-date=2011-04-05}}</ref> |

| homepage = [http://www.platform.com/ www.platform.com]

}}

'''Platform Computing''' iswas a privately held software company that is primarily known for its job scheduling product, [[Load Sharing Facility|Load Sharing Facility]] (LSF)]]. It was founded in 1992 in [[Toronto]], Ontario, Canada]] and is currently headquartered in [[Markham, Ontario]] with 11 branch offices across the United States, Europe and Asia.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20111207055026/http://www.platform.com/company/contact-us Contact]</ref>

In JanJanuary 2012, Platform Computing was acquired by [[IBM]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120112053601/http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/36372.wss IBM Closes on Acquisition of Platform Computing]</ref>

==History==

[[File:PlatformComputing.jpg|thumb|Platform HeadquarterHeadquarters in Canada.]]

Platform Computing was founded by Songnian Zhou, Jingwen Wang, and Bing Wu in 1992.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ogf.org/News/documents/ogf_winter_2007.pdf|format=PDF|publisher=OGF|title=GridConnections|accessdateaccess-date=2007-12-29}}</ref> Its first product, LSF, was based on the ''Utopia'' research project at the [[University of Toronto]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.121.1434|publisher=John Wiley &CiteSeerX Sons|title=Utopia: A Load Sharing Facility for Large, Heterogeneous Distributed Computer Systems|accessdateciteseerx =2007-12-29 10.1.1.121.1434}}</ref> The LSF software was developed partially with funding from [[CANARIE]] (Canadian Advanced Network and Research for Industry and Education).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20040720151637/http://www.canarie.ca/press/publications/tadeng.pdf|format=PDF |publisher=CANARIE |title=Shaping the future: success stories from the CARARIE files |accessdateaccess-date=2011-04-05 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040720151637/http://www.canarie.ca/press/publications/tadeng.pdf |archive-date=July 20, 2004 }}</ref>

Platform's revenue was approximately $300,000 in 1993, and reached $12<!-- Canadian? --> million in 1997. Revenue grew by 34% (YoY) to US$46.2 million in 2001, US$50 million in 2003.<ref>{{cite web|archivedatearchive-date=2005-09-27|archiveurlarchive-url=httphttps://web.archive.org/web/20050927230807/http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/107/107204.html|url=http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/107/107204.html|publisher=Yahoo Business|title=Platform Computing Inc. Company Profile|accessdateaccess-date=2008-10-02}}</ref>

In 1999, the ''SiteAssure'' suite was announced by Platform to address website availability and monitoring market.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Connor |first=Deni |date=Nov 8, 1999 |title=the changing face of web site management |magazine=NetworkWorld }}</ref>

On October 29, 2007, Platform Computing acquired the Scali Manage business from Norway-based Scali AS. This acquisition added a more complex cluster management solution to Platform's software offerings.<ref>{{cite pressrelease|url=http://www.platform.com/press-releases/2007/platform-computing-acquires-scali-manage-business|publisher=Platform Computing|title=Platform Computing Acquires Scali Manage Business |date=2007-10-29|date=2008-10-02}}</ref> On August 1, 2008, Platform acquired the rest of the Scali business, taking on the industry-standard [[Message Passing Interface]] (MPI), Scali MPI, and rebranding it Platform MPI.<ref>{{cite pressrelease|publisher=Platform Computing|url=http://www.platform.com/press-releases/2008/platform-computing-acquires-scali-mpi-business/|title=Platform Computing Acquires Scali MPI Business |date=August 1, 2008|accessdate=2008-10-02}}</ref>

On October 29, 2007, Platform Computing acquired the Scali Manage business from Norway-based Scali AS. ThisScali acquisition added a more complexwas cluster management solution to Platform's software offerings.<ref>{{cite pressreleasepress release |url= http://www.platform.com/press-releases/2007/platform-computing-acquires-scali-manage-business |publisher=Platform Computing |title=Platform Computing Acquires Scali Manage Business |date=20072008-10-2902 |datearchive-url=2008https://web.archive.org/web/20081007105733/http://www.platform.com/press-10releases/2007/platform-02computing-acquires-scali-manage-business |archive-date=October 7, 2008 }}</ref> On August 1, 2008, Platform acquired the rest of the Scali business, taking on the industry-standard [[Message Passing Interface]] (MPI), Scali MPI, and rebranding it Platform MPI.<ref>{{cite pressreleasepress release|publisher=Platform Computing|url=http://www.platform.com/press-releases/2008/platform-computing-acquires-scali-mpi-business/|title=Platform Computing Acquires Scali MPI Business |date=August 1, 2008|accessdatearchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091122203607/http://www.platform.com/press-releases/2008/platform-computing-acquires-scali-mpi-business/|access-date=2008-10-02|archive-date=2009-11-22}}</ref>

On June 22, 2009, Platform Computing announced its first piece of software to serve the [[cloud computing]] space. Platform ISF is software that enables organizations to set up and manage private clouds, controlling both physical and virtual resources, and supporting a wide variety of hardware and OS configurations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.platform.com/press-releases/2009/platform-computing-announces-private-cloud-management-software|title=Platform Computing announces private cloud management software|accessdate=2009-06-26}}</ref>

On June 22, 2009, Platform Computing announced its first piece of software to serve the [[cloud computing]] space. Platform ISF is(Infrastructure softwareSharing thatFacility) enables organizations to set up and manage private clouds, controlling both physical and virtual resources, and supporting a wide variety of hardware and OS configurations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.platform.com/press-releases/2009/platform-computing-announces-private-cloud-management-software|title=Platform Computing announces private cloud management software|accessdateaccess-date=2009-06-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100516185808/http://www.platform.com/press-releases/2009/platform-computing-announces-private-cloud-management-software|archive-date=2010-05-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/06/22/platform_goes_cloudy/|title=Platform leaps from grids to clouds|website=[[The Register]]|date=Jun 22, 2009}}</ref>

In August 2009, Platform acquired HP-MPI from [[Hewlett-Packard]].<ref>[http://www.platform.com/press-releases/2009/platform-computing-acquires-mpi-product-from-hp Platform Computing Acquires MPI Product from HP]</ref>

In August 2009, Platform acquired HP-MPI from [[Hewlett-Packard]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090905133936/http://www.platform.com/press-releases/2009/platform-computing-acquires-mpi-product-from-hp Platform Computing Acquires MPI Product from HP]</ref>

On Oct. 11, 2011, IBM announced their intention to buy Platform Computing.<ref>http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2011-10-12/ibm_makes_bet_on_distributed_computing_with_platform_buy.html?featured=top</ref>

In January 2012, Platform Computing was acquired by [[IBM]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/36372.wss|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508190022/http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/36372.wss|archive-date=2012-05-08|title=IBM Closes on Acquisition of Platform Computing|access-date=2024-02-25}}</ref>

==Products==

IBM Platform Computing has a wide range of software products and solutions including

.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibm.com/platformcomputing/products|title=Products - Platform Computing|accessdate=2009-05-22}}</ref>

IBM® Platform™ LSF® is a powerful workload management platform for demanding, distributed HPC environments. It provides a comprehensive set of intelligent, policy-driven scheduling features that enable you to utilize all of your compute infrastructure resources and ensure optimal application performance.

IBM® Platform™ HPC is a complete high performance computing management solution in a single product. It includes a range of out-of the-box cluster and workload management features designed to help reduce the complexity of your HPC environment and improve your time-to-results.

IBM® Platform™ Symphony software delivers powerful enterprise-class management for running compute and data intensive distributed applications on a scalable, shared grid. It accelerates dozens of parallel applications, for faster results and better utilization of all available resources.

IBM® Platform™ MPI is a high performing implementation of the Message Passing Interface (MPI) designed to accelerate applications in distributed computing environments. Platform MPI a wide range of industry standard platforms, interconnects and operating systems to help you improve the quality of results, reduce cost and improve productivity.

IBM® Platform™ Cluster Manager enables administrators to quickly and easily provision, manage and monitor HPC clusters and clouds through an intuitive web-based interface. A broad range of capabilities support diverse client environments – from simplifying management of a single departmental cluster through automated self-service creation and provisioning of secure HPC cloud environments for use by multiple tenants.

==Partnerships==

Platform Computing has partnerships with over 100 companies and industry leaders, including:<ref>[http://www.platform.com/partners/directory/partners-directory Partners Directory]</ref>

*[[Cray]]

*[[Dell]]

*[[HP]]

*IBM

*[[Intel]]

*[[Microsoft]]

*[[Red Hat]]

*[[SAS Institute|SAS]]

==Open-source participation==

* [[Hadoop]] - Platform joined the [[Hadoop]] project in 2011, and is focused on enhancing the Hadoop Distributed File System<ref>[http://www.platform.com/press-releases/2011/PlatformAnnouncesCommercialSupportforApacheHDFS Platform Computing Announces Commercial Support for Apache Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS)]</ref>

* Platform Lava - based on Platform LSF, licensed under [[GNU General Public License#Version_2Version 2|GPLv2]].<ref>[{{Cite web |url=http://www.hpccommunity.org/section/lava-5/ |title=Platform Lava] |access-date=2011-03-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110421033714/http://www.hpccommunity.org/section/lava-5/ |archive-date=2011-04-21 }}</ref> The Lava scheduler is part of ''Red Hat HPC''.<ref>[{{Cite web |url=http://www.redhat.com/hpc/ |title=Red Hat HPC Solution] |access-date=2011-03-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218055720/http://www.redhat.com/hpc/ |archive-date=2010-12-18 }}</ref> Discontinued in 2011.

* [[OpenLava]] - successor to Platform Lava.

* Platform FTA - File Transfer Agent for HPC clusters <ref>[ftp://ftp.platform.com/pub/opensource/ platform opensource]{{dead link|date=May 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

* [[Nagios]] Plug-ins <ref>[http://www.hpccommunity.org/section/sysmgmt-117/ Systems Management]</ref>

* [[Nagios]] Plug-ins <ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hpccommunity.org/section/sysmgmt-117/ |title=Systems Management |access-date=2011-03-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303225228/http://www.hpccommunity.org/section/sysmgmt-117/ |archive-date=2011-03-03 }}</ref>

* Community Scheduler Framework - a meta-scheduling framework <ref>[http://grid1.jlu.edu.cn/csf http://grid1.jlu.edu.cn/csf] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707024635/http://grid1.jlu.edu.cn/csf/ |date=2011-07-07 }}</ref>

==Memberships==

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==Standards==

Platform products have adopted the following standards:

*[[DRMAA]]

*[[Intel Cluster Ready]]

*[[HPC Profile]]

*[[JSDL]]

*[[Open MPI]]

*[[Project Kusu]], the basis for the Platform Cluster Manager <ref>{{cite book|url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-24091-1_64|year=2011|doi=10.1007/978-3-642-24091-1_64 |last1=Zhang |first1=Liang |last2=Wan|first2=Zhenkai |title=Computing and Intelligent Systems |chapter=Kusu Cluster Computing Introduction and Deployment of Applications |pages=484-490|isbn=978-3-642-24090-4 }}</ref>

*[[Project Kusu]], the basis for the Platform Cluster Manager

== See also ==

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== External links ==

* [http://www.platform.com Platform.com] The Official Website for Platform Computing HPC Management Software

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080814011407/http://www.hpccommunity.org/ User forum]

* [http://my.platform.com Platform Computing user portal] for downloads and commercial support

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[[Category:Companies established in 1992]]

[[Category:IBM acquisitions]]

[[Category:Grid computing]]