Windows HPC Server 2008 allows Wall Street firms to deploy quickly, leverage existing resources and scale from workstation to cluster - all in a familiar Windows environment.

NEW YORK, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft Corp. today announced it has released to manufacturing its newest server -- Windows HPC Server 2008, giving Wall Street firms an easy-to-deploy, cost-effective and scalable high-performance computing (HPC) solution. Today's event kicks off a series of global launch activities in the coming weeks to support the new product.

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During a keynote address at the 2008 High Performance on Wall Street conference, Bill Laing, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Windows Server and Solutions Division, discussed how financial services firms are increasingly turning to HPC resources to conduct real-time and intra-day risk analysis in response to the turbulent market environment.

'Companies have to be more efficient than ever with IT resources, but need to maintain their position in a competitive marketplace. They require HPC solutions that deploy quickly, integrate in a heterogeneous environment and scale from workstation to cluster,' Laing said. 'The launch of Windows HPC Server 2008 is just another step in our vision to drive HPC mainstream.'

In his keynote speech, Laing also noted that the company's HPC vision goes beyond traditional HPC workloads. Microsoft brings the value of an integrated HPC solution and a productive development environment to customers for whom high-performance computing has been out of reach in the past. By focusing on productivity for users, developers and administrators, Microsoft is positioned to take high-performance computing mainstream.

'IDC research shows that high-performance computing has been one of the highest-growth IT markets over the past five years,' said Earl Joseph, HPC program vice president at IDC.