O’Reilly Network: Linux Clusters – Using Linux for Power Computing

“If there weren’t enough reasons to use Linux in the enterprise
these days — besides the cost savings, speed, performance, and the
growing list of open source applications that range from embedded
applications like the TiVO personal video server though enterprise
RDBMSs like DB2 and Oracle — Linux has now firmly established
itself in the rarefied air at the top of the computing world in
bleeding-edge supercomputers.”

“Pioneered by Thomas Sterling and Donald Becker while both were
at NASA’s Center of Excellence in Space Data and Information
Sciences (CESDIS), several of the fastest computers in the world
are “parallel clusters” composed of large arrays of off-the-shelf
Linux systems.”

“Parallel Linux clusters, better known by the name “Beowulf
clusters” (after a middle-English mythic hero), are being used for
weather prediction, high-energy physics, code breaking, as well as
more down-to-earth applications such as data-mining,
computer-generated animation, and massive multiuser
games.“

Complete
Story