Brain Murmurs
Guerrilla computing in the mountains of Seattle
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There are several options available for someone requiring supercomputing capability; leasing grid computing services, building or buying a server cluster, buying an actual supercomputer, or using other volunteer computing grids. Each of these options has different strengths, some of which are very complementary to JIVA and are worth investigating in conjunction with a JIVA network. None of them are as affordable as JIVA, however.
Consider the following case (based on data presented by Los Alamos National Laboratory in 2002) in which 3 Beowulf clusters are compared to two commercial JIVA network configurations. Each cluster consists of 24, networked PCs. If we conservatively assume that it will take 3 part-time JIVA Clients to do the work of a dedicated PC with the same hardware, we shall have to consider a JIVA network consisting of 72 JIVA Clients. The cost breakdown appears below:
Cost Parameter |
Athlon Cluster |
PIII Cluster |
P4 Cluster |
JIVA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Acquisition | $15,000 |
$16,000 |
$17,000 |
$7,200 |
Administration |
$60,000 |
$60,000 |
$60,000 |
$0* |
Power |
$4,000 |
$4,000 |
$8,000 |
$0* |
Space |
$8,000 |
$8,000 |
$8,000 |
$0* |
Downtime |
$12,000 |
$12,000 |
$12,000 |
$0* |
TCO |
$99,000 |
$100,000 |
$105,000 |
$7,200 |
Acquisition Cost Per Node |
$625 |
$666 |
$708 |
$300 |
TCO Per Node |
$4,125 |
$4,166,67 |
$4,375 |
$300 |
*It is worth noting that there are no administration, power, space, or downtime costs associated with JIVA because it is being run on computers for which this has already been budgeted.
These figures make it clear that the JIVA Grid Network is substantially less expensive than any of the three clusters. The difference in cost is visually staggering (see below).
Leased grid computing services is one option you might consider. Sun makes a grid available for users interested in this path, charging $1 (US) per CPU per hour. JIVA, by contrast, costs you from one to two cents per CPU per hour for the first 3 years. After that it's free .
The graphic below shows the ROI of using a JIVA network instead of leasing grid services from a 3rd party or buying a cluster. The ability to leverage hardware that you already own has a profound effect on your costs, and it shows here.
