CSC’s Grid Computing Solution Provides Flexibility, Cost Savings

Computing tasks that involve massive amounts of number crunching can now be performed cost-effectively using CSC’s innovative new grid computing technology. CSC’s Results-Driven Computing (RDC) Grid service lets organizations perform supercomputing-level tasks without making large up-front capital investments in equipment or data center infrastructure, or usage commitments.

With CSC’s RDC Grid service, customers get access to a wide range of service options and "just-in-time" provisioning using industry-leading security tools and practices. This provides customers with a flexible, vendor-independent way of tapping into computer applications and services on an as-needed basis. The results: Reduced fixed IT costs, more efficient use of available assets and improved alignment of IT with business goals.

John Rawlins, director of supercomputing for CSC’s Global Infrastructure Services unit, sums up the service, "With RDC Grid computing, we are offering a set of computational resources that can effectively be turned on and off like a tap. Clients can avoid capital risks and be protected from the effects of rapid technology aging, while attaining the level of data security they desire."

Massive computing power

The RDC Grid is a public utility service, which means that the infrastructure is shared among multiple clients. CSC’s RDC Grid is a very large cluster of hundreds of servers that are linked to appear as a single virtual pool of resources. The service can be accessed either as a stand-alone grid or to supplement a client’s existing grid capacity. Key customer benefits include reduced operating costs, increased computing capacity and enhanced flexibility. CSC’s stringent security measures are incorporated to protect data integrity.

Kennan Flanagan, director of CSC’s RDC service offering says, "This is about flexibility and getting your computer resources into an on-demand-type situation." He says the offering is geared toward users that are engaged in activities that require a lot of CPU-intensive applications, such as financial services companies, petrochemical firms and organizations involved with research and development. "Our target market is current grid users that have already done a grid in-house, as well as organizations that need massive amounts of computing power," Flanagan says.

Grid computing is still in its infancy, and CSC’s solution provides several key advantages over other offerings currently available in the marketplace. One, the RDC Grid is a true public utility grid that has the capability of interfacing directly with the client’s existing grid. Second, the RDC Grid is capable of securely running highly sensitive calculations for multiple concurrent clients. Another, CSC’s RDC Grid is flexible enough to run various operating systems and application software stacks to meet each client’s needs.

The RDC Grid provides a fundamentally new approach to IT infrastructure outsourcing, enabling organizations to enjoy all the benefits of traditional outsourcing but with additional flexibility and scalability at predictably lower costs. "CSC’s offering is architected very differently to that of other public grids," says Flanagan. "There are some very clever ways in which the RDC Grid is designed that give us enhanced security and the flexibility to tailor portions of the grid to each client’s customized requirements. It’s designed to appeal to clients who stress very, very tight security around their applications and data. We believe that the RDC Grid has capabilities that the other public grids don’t have, that it’s more secure and far more flexible than what our competition offers."

CSC’s innovative technical approach also enables quick initialization of a grid environment. Flanagan says this provides another key advantage to CSC. "Because we can initialize the grid so quickly, if the capacity is available, we have a lot of agility for bringing that up on very short notice." Flanagan says that if an existing customer requests additional computing capacity, that extra firepower can be delivered in less than one hour.

Pay as you go

CSC enjoys a rich legacy of experience in high-performance utility computing and the RDC Grid builds upon CSC’s deep experience in designing, implementing and supporting successful supercomputer projects for government and commercial clients worldwide. For more than five years, CSC’s e-HPC Services offering has provided access to cost-effective supercomputers, allowing CSC’s customers to maximize performance, productivity and efficiency. In addition, in 1999, CSC established the High Performance Computing Center of Excellence, where technologists are helping organizations such as NASA perform advanced computing tasks.

Rawlins and Flanagan point to security as one of the key components of the RDC Grid solution. For decades, CSC has operated servers and systems for security-sensitive entities such as the U.S. Department of Defense and other security-conscious agencies within the federal government. The RDC Grid service is based upon CSC’s industry-leading approach to security, providing both performance and protection.

Pricing for RDC Grid services stays true to the "pay as you go" utility computing model. Each CSC client reserves capacity in advance by simply declaring the time, duration, and number of CPUs desired for each period the service is required. When the computing resources are re-allocated, the RDC Grid is then quickly re-configured to run the operating system, software stack and applications each client needs. Rawlins says, "Essentially the service is priced based on allocation of computing resources, by the number of processors provided, multiplied by the time of assignment."

CSC’s RDC Grid offering is designed to meet the needs of organizations that require a solution for making compute-intensive tasks easier and more flexible. Rawlins summarizes the service: "CSC’s objective is to become the premier global supplier of grid computing resources. What we want to do is flexibly set it up for different types of clients and allow them all to take resources at their optimum times so that collectively they get the most competitive rates—done in a way that keeps their information secure."

The CSC team of Nigel Healy, Ian McKay, John Rawlins and Paul White received a 2008 CSC Chairman's Award for Excellence, the most prestigious honor for CSC employees.