BusinessWeek Says Apple To Benefit From Virginia Tech's G5 Super Computer "Big Time"

by , 11:00 AM EDT, September 10th, 2003

Charles Haddad's latest Byte of the Apple column is all about Virginia Tech's new Power Mac G5 super computer project. To catch you up, it was announced earlier this month that the university would be taking 1,100 dual processor Power Mac G5s and hooking them together in a 2200 CPU cluster. The result should be one of the world's top super computers, courtesy of the G5. Charles Haddad says that this is a ringing endorsement of both Apple and the G5 itself, and that Apple will benefit from this "big time." From the article:

While it wasn't Apple's idea, the company stands to benefit big-time. The opportunity isn't in supercomputing itself, a small market in which Apple has no standing. But Virginia Tech's progress in building a Mac-based supercomputer represents a high-profile endorsement of Apple's new G5 desktop, released just weeks ago, and the first desktop to use a 64-bit microprocessor. Says Charles Wolf, who follows Apple for investment boutique Needham & Co.: "Virginia Tech is in effect blessing the G5 and its cost-effectiveness."

This endorsement couldn't come at a better moment. It should mute the uproar in the Wintel community sparked by Apple's claims that the G5 is the fastest, most powerful desktop on the market today. And it should impress the new chip's intended market of graphic and multimedia professionals, who need speed and computing firepower almost as much as scientists.

There's a lot more information in the full article, including comments on how the system is being built on the cheap, how Apple is not a player in the super computer market, and some other background information. We recommend the column as a good read.

The Mac Observer Spin:

Quick Poll: Who else thought about Peter Gabriel's song "Big Time" when they read our title? Just checking.

Mr. Haddad is spot on. Apple should raise a lot of heads with this project. While we don't think Apple is going to suddenly become a player in the super computer market, just as Mr. Haddad noted, plenty of other markets are going to see that Apple's G5 is the real deal.

These are exciting times in the Mac world.

BusinessWeek Column