Absoft Fortran compilers are now available for the
Rocks cluster distribution in Roll form
San Jose, CA, February 28, 2008 - Clustercorp, the leader in commercial software and support for
the Rocks™ cluster distribution, announced availability of a new Absoft Roll as part of its Rocks+Rolls
program. The Absoft Roll includes the Absoft Pro Fortran v10.1 Compiler Suite for x86_64 systems and is
fully compatible with Rocks+ 4.3 and the open-source Rocks 4.3 software stack. The Absoft compiler suite
includes optimizations for the complete line of AMD and Intel x64 processors, as well as specialized tuning
for the new Quad-Core AMD Opteron ™ processors, which is particularly pertinent to the HPC Cluster
community. Clustercorp developed the Absoft Roll to enhance its commercial Rocks+ product line, and is
making the Absoft Roll generally available to end-users as part of its expanded support to the open source
Rocks community.
“Absoft is pleased to partner with Clustercorp, a leading provider of Rocks+Rolls solutions, to develop an
Absoft roll based on Absoft Fortran. Rocks+Roll bundles solve the problems associated with software
configuration and installation on clusters, and Absoft and Clustercorp are committed to providing a one-
stop, easy-to-install solution which provides the highest performing and most complete software solution
for x64/Linux HPC customers,” said Wood Lotz, president of Absoft Corporation. “ Clustercorp’s Absoft
Roll includes the complete Absoft compiler suite and provides customers with industry leading
performance, advanced auto parallelization and vectorization tuned for today’s latest x64 multi-core
processors, with special focus on AMD’s latest Quad Core cpus. Full support for the complete Absoft
Rocks+Roll bundle is available and additional details on the Absoft roll are available on the Absoft and
Clustercorp websites,” continued Lotz.
“With Rocks’ current position as the dominant Linux-based cluster solution, it is advantageous for ISVs to
make their software packages readily available in Roll format. We are pleased to welcome Absoft to the
Rocks community and announce the Absoft Roll as their first commercial product packaged for Rocks 4.3.
We look forward to continue support of Absoft products in future Rocks releases,” said Tim McIntire,
President, Clustercorp.
The Absoft Roll demo is freely available to download (a compiler license is required for use beyond the
demo period) from Clustercorp.com and is fully supported in Rocks+. Rocks+ adds two critical
components necessary for deploying Rocks as an enterprise-class solution:
Rocks+Support - Rocks+Support addresses the biggest problem in using an open source solution such as
Rocks – “the support gap.” While community support for active open source projects like Rocks is a great
start, a complex, high-value deployment such as an HPC Cluster requires the formal backing of an
experienced support team. Clustercorp was founded by the core members of the Rocks community to serve
this purpose.
Rocks+Rolls - The second obstacle to a successful cluster deployment commonly arises shortly after
cluster delivery, when system administrators begin the burdensome process of application installation and
configuration across their new cluster. Rocks uses a powerful paradigm called “Rolls,” which automate the
installation of software across a cluster and prevent software skew. Clustercorp is focused on the Rocks
applications layer, bringing many popular 3rd party software packages into the Rocks software stack.
About Clustercorp - Clustercorp, a privately held corporation based in San Jose, California, was founded
by core members of the Rocks community who saw a need for commercial software, services, and support
for the Rocks cluster distribution. Clustercorp’s primary product line is a commercial version of Rocks
called “Rocks+”, which includes “Rocks+Support” and “Rocks+Rolls”. Additionally, in 2007, Clustercorp
launched its Scientific Computing group, which brings traditional scientists together with experts in HPC to
provide users top notch applications level services. More information can be found at
www.clustercorp.com or by calling (408) 694-3564.
About Absoft Corporation - Absoft Corporation (www.absoft.com) is a recognized leader in software
development tools for Fortran, C/C++, and high-performance computing on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS
X and Linux on 32-bit and 64-bit processors, from AMD, IBM and Intel. Absoft is an active business
partner with AMD, Apple, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and other major technology companies. Absoft products
are distributed globally through more than 200 resellers.
This product includes software developed by the Rocks Cluster Group at the San Diego Supercomputer
Center at the University of California, San Diego and its contributors.