KITECH

Institute Expects Increased Performance and Productivity with Windows HPC Server 2008

The Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH) provides high-performance computing (HPC) services and simulation technologies to small and medium-sized manufacturing businesses in Korea. KITECH plans to upgrade its clusters from Windows® Compute Cluster Server 2003 to Windows HPC Server 2008. It expects to improve overall cluster performance, save a great deal of development and management time, and offer enhanced customer service.

Business Needs

One of the largest research and development (R&D) facilities in Korea, KITECH is headquartered in Cheonan and operates multiple R&D and support centers throughout the country. KITECH employs more than 800 people and receives its funding partially from the government, with the majority of its funds originating from commercial contracts. Its mission is to deliver and support innovations in manufacturing technology to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Korea become more competitive in the global marketplace.

We expect our simulation applications offered to small and medium-sized commercial businesses in Korea to run 20 percent faster with Windows HPC Server 2008.  Dr. Sang-Hyun Cho Senior Researcher Korea Institute of Industrial Technology

KITECH uses simulation technologies that improve efficiencies in manufacturing. SMEs require these services but cannot acquire the necessary technologies themselves because of financial constraints. To meet this need, KITECH offers high-performance computing (HPC) services that produce measurable advances in the areas of production technology, manufacturing processes, and manufacturing systems. For example, in the field of production technology, the simulations help develop highly functional, environmentally friendly casting technology to be used in developing next-generation transportation vehicles. In the area of manufacturing systems, KITECH helps develop technologies used to create clean manufacturing processes and efficient factories.

KITECH wants to continue to upgrade the capabilities it offers to SMEs and improve the customer experience. It also seeks to upgrade its processing speeds, increase productivity and performance, and make internal management of its computer clusters easier for its employees.

Solution

KITECH decided to migrate all of its computer clusters from Windows® Compute Cluster Server 2003 to Windows HPC Server 2008. Originally, KITECH chose Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 because it gave the institute the ability to offer computer-aided engineering services to SMEs and to develop simulation packages using Windows technology. “We chose Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 because it satisfied all of our needs to develop our cluster systems and offer easy-to-use simulation packages to SMEs,” says Dr. Sang-Hyun Cho, Senior Researcher at KITECH.

KITECH chose to upgrade to Windows HPC Server 2008, in part, because of the new features offered in the product. In particular, KITECH desired more powerful job scheduling and resource monitoring functions to give it the ability to provide flexible parallel simulation services to several customers on the network. KITECH plans to benefit from the new service-oriented architecture (SOA) functionality for interactive jobs, and the new NetworkDirect (Remote Direct Memory Access) integration with the Microsoft Message Passing Interface (MS MPI) for batch jobs. “KITECH decided to migrate to Windows HPC Server 2008 partly because of the access to skilled Microsoft IT support staff and the interoperability of the solution, and because it will facilitate and speed up our time-to-market,” says Dr. Sang-Hyun Cho. The institute will also use the Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2005 development system to develop parallel simulation codes and graphical interfaces.

In May 2008, KITECH began testing the solution on six clusters; each node has 8 cores and 16 gigabytes of memory. KITECH received installation assistance from ISATech, a Microsoft Partner in Korea. The institute has encountered no problems and expects to complete the tests by the end of July 2008. KITECH plans to initially run Windows HPC Server 2008 on 40 different clusters using Supermicro servers. Each of these clusters is connected by Gigabit Ethernet lines from 3Com and ATEN and has three Ethernet lines for private, public, and MPI uses. KITECH expects to run approximately 100 jobs per cluster per day. When the final migration is completed, KITECH will run Windows HPC Server 2008 on approximately 100 clusters with more than 500 cores each. It also plans to eventually manage the entire system with Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007.

Benefits

Windows HPC Server 2008 will provide KITECH with faster processing speeds, improve overall cluster performance and productivity, and give the institute the tools it needs to offer enhanced customer service. Additionally, Windows HPC Server 2008 will make it easier for KITECH to use and manage its clusters.

• Faster processing speeds. KITECH anticipates that its simulations will run faster with Windows HPC Server 2008. “We expect our simulation applications offered to small and medium-sized commercial businesses in Korea to run 20 percent faster with Windows HPC Server 2008,” says Dr. Sang-Hyun Cho. Overall performance and productivity will also increase, resulting in a better experience for everyone relying on the KITECH clusters.
• Better customer service. Windows HPC Server 2008 will enhance customer service not only by offering faster processing, but also by expanding the variety of simulation tools available to SMEs. “The improved management functionalities offered by Windows HPC Server 2008 will directly affect our ability to offer better customer service through enhanced and varied simulation tools,” says Dr. Sang-Hyun Cho. “Also, because we will have more efficient resource distribution for MPI calculations, it will become possible to tailor the simulations to our customers’ exact needs.”
• Increased ease of use and management. Windows HPC Server 2008 will facilitate cluster management, increase ease of use, and improve the functionality of the KITECH clusters. KITECH also expects to speed development with the new solution. “Development time will be saved―we hope it will be up to a 40 percent improvement because of the new application programming interfaces offered by Windows HPC Server 2008,” says Dr. Sang-Hyun Cho.

For more information about other Microsoft customer successes, please visit:
www.microsoft.com/casestudies

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published July 2008