PNNL

Abstract

The commoditization of high performance computers started in the late 80’s with the “attack of the killer micros.” Previously, high performance computers were exotic vector systems that could only be afforded by an illustrious few. Now everyone has a supercomputer composed of clusters of commodity processors. A similar commoditization of high performance storage has begun. Commodity disks are being used for high performance storage, enabling a paradigm change in storage and significantly changing the price point of high volume storage.