JPMorgan Chase has signed a multi-system order with Egenera for its BladeFrame servers under a programme designed to harness idle computer power for number-crunching tasks in core front and middle office functions.
The BladeFrame units are being deployed as the first hardware platform in JPMorgan's grid computing initiative, 'Compute Backbone'. This is designed to make CPU capacity available as a centralised, shared network service by pooling and isolating processing resources for compute-intensive applications.
In September, the US bank signed a deal with Platform Computing for the use of its Symphony solution for connecting heterogenous computer environments over a Grid backbone.
Using the Red Hat Linux operating system, the BladeFrame creates a pool of up to 96 Intel Xeon processors on 24 Egenera Processing Blade systems. Processing power can be automatically increased, decreased and reallocated to support new applications or accommodate variable demand on existing applications without purchasing, installing or managing incremental equipment
Debbie Miller, president and CEO, Egenera, comments: "With IT budgets flat or shrinking, and application requirements on the rise, the only way to spend more on development is to spend less on infrastructure. The Egenera system delivers better functionality than proprietary Unix platforms at less than half the cost."
Massachusets-based Egenera was co-founded by Vern Brownell a former chief technology officer of Goldman Sachs. Credit Suisse First Boston was signed as Egenera's first customer last year.