Platform virtualisation as well as software and hardware
optimisation are key elements of the second phase of CERN openlab,
a partnership between CERN, the researcher of nuclear fusion, and
HP, Intel and Oracle.
The second phase of CERN openlab builds on experience from the
last three years, where the partnership is said to have yielded
excellent technical results in the field of cluster and grid
computing.
Activities are based around a platform competence centre, a grid
interoperability centre and an IT security initiative. It is this
platform competence centre that focuses on platform virtualisation
as well as software and hardware optimisation.
Platform virtualisation at CERN enables grid applications to
benefit from a secure and standardised environment presented by a
‘virtual machine hypervisor’, independent of any the hardware
intricacies. Software and hardware optimisation is seen as a vital
part of the deployment of a global computing grid for the Large
Hadron Collider (LHC), CERN’s flagship accelerator, which is due to
start operations in 2007.
CERN believes that optimisation can help to cope with the
expected huge demand for computing resources by the scientists
involved in the LHC experiments, and avoid that demand outstrips
the available resources of the grid.