by , 5:10 PM EDT, May 18th, 2004
When you think of high performance computing, Apple most likely isn't the first name that pops into your mind. Apple makes computers for artists and media people, right?
Right, but the computers Apple makes can be used where computationally-intensive tasks require some horsepower, and some flexibility. Apple wants you to know this, which is why the company has come up with a new page on its Web site dedicated to informing developers and others that Apple isn't just about style. The Web page was actually posted back in March, but we missed it then, and our friends at MacMinute were good enough to catch it yesterday.
If you take a look at Apple's High Performance Computing page you'll find the following:
Do you have computational tasks too large for a single machine? Are you trying to model biological molecules, or render a 3D movie? Are you trying to move your app from a supercomputer down to a cluster?
To help you address these kinds of problems, this page describes resources for High Performance Computing on the Macintosh platform. It provides links to Apple and third-party resources of relevance to the HPC space.
For more information about high performance computing on the Mac stop by Apple's High Performance Computing Web page.
Of course, not even Apple would suggest that Macs, or even a cluster of Macs, could outperform a dedicated super-number cruncher like Japan's Earth Simulator; but if you get enough Macs together, you can do some interesting things, as the folks at Virginia Tech will be happy to tell you.
On a smaller scale, however, Macs shine when you have a need for a data cruncher and have a limited budget. Apple is looking to make the most of the new niche it found, and it wants to get developers thinking that way too.