Microsoft has announced the acquisition of Cycle Computing, a startup focusing on high-performance computing in the cloud. The financial details of the deal were not disclosed, but Azure vice president Jason Zander did reveal some of his company’s plans.
“I’m pleased to share that we’ve acquired Cycle Computing, a leader in cloud computing orchestration, to help make it easier than ever for customers to use High-Performance Computing (HPC) and other Big Computing capabilities in the cloud,” he said.
“Azure has a massive global footprint and, more than any other major cloud provider. It also has powerful infrastructure, InfiniBand support for fast networking and state-of-the-art GPU capabilities. Combining the most specialized Big Compute infrastructure available in the public cloud with Cycle Computing’s technology and years of experience with the world’s largest supercomputers, we open up many new possibilities.”
Cycle Computing will also be accelerating its customer’s movement to the cloud, giving access to “the most performant and compliant infrastructure available in the public cloud today.”
Fighting Cancer with HPC
However, Microsoft also seems to be looking at the company for research interests, particularly AI, IoT, and deep learning. Cycle Computing’s team could prove invaluable in the development of massively scalable applications.
In the past, the company has managed to use its resources to help fight cancer, create better solar panels and hard drives, build faster rockets, and more. It’s collaborated with financial services, healthcare institutions, and even NASA.
Cycle Computing CEO Jason Stowe believes these use cases will only expand under Microsoft.
“We see amazing opportunities in joining forces with Microsoft. Its global cloud footprint and unique hybrid offering is built with enterprises in mind, and its Big Compute/HPC team has already delivered pivotal technologies such as InfiniBand and next generation GPUs,” he said in a statement.
“We’re psyched to be joining the Azure team precisely because they share our vision of bringing Big Compute to the world: to solve our customers’, and frequently humanity’s most challenging problems through the use of cloud HPC.”
