Platform Computing: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:46, 21 October 2011

Revision as of 18:40, 17 December 2011

Line 12:

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

}}

'''Platform Computing''' is 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>[http://www.platform.com/company/contact-us Contact]</ref>

In Oct 2011, Platform Computing was acquired by [[IBM]].<ref>[http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/deepcomputing/platform.html IBM to acquire Platform Computing]</ref> <ref>[http://www.platform.com/press-releases/2011/IBMtoAcquireSystemSoftwareCompanyPlatformComputingtoExtendReachofTechnicalComputing IBM to Acquire System Software Company Platform Computing to Extend Reach of Technical Computing]</ref>

==History==

[[File:PlatformComputing.jpg|thumb|Platform Headquarter 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|accessdate=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 & Sons|title=Utopia: A Load Sharing Facility for Large, Heterogeneous Distributed Computer Systems|accessdate=2007-12-29}}</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|accessdate=2011-04-05}}</ref>

Platform's revenue was approximately $300,000 in 1993, and reached $12 million in 1997. Revenue grew by 34% (YoY) to US$46.2 million in 2001, US$50 million in 2003.<ref>{{cite web|archivedate=2005-09-27|archiveurl=http://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|accessdate=2008-10-02}}</ref>

Line 24:

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 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>.

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>

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>

==Products==

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

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

*Platform ISF (Infrastructure Sharing Facility) - Management software for building private IaaS clouds

Line 51:

==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]]

Line 64:

==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_2|GPLv2]].<ref>[http://www.hpccommunity.org/section/lava-5/ Platform Lava]</ref> The Lava scheduler is part of ''Red Hat HPC''. <ref>[http://www.redhat.com/hpc/ Red Hat HPC Solution]</ref>

* Platform FTA - File Transfer Agent for HPC clusters <ref>[ftp://ftp.platform.com/pub/opensource/ platform opensource]</ref>

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