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Friday, February 6, 2009
SiCortex starts 2009 with new funds, new European market
By Efrain Viscarolasaga
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Officials at Maynard-based SiCortex Inc., a maker of low-power, high-performance computing systems, report that while it had a successful 2008 selling its machines in the North American market, 2009 has seen the company’s first penetration into Europe.
Last week, after bringing in $5 million in the latest tranche of its $37 million Series B funding, the company announced a new sale to the University of Magdeburg in Germany. The university has purchased one of SiCortex’s high-capacity systems for use in fluid dynamics research, and represents SiCortex’s second installation in Europe. The first, at the University of Cambridge in England and configured to assist in computational chemistry research, was completed earlier this year, and announced this week.
According to SiCortex CEO Chris Stone, both schools had very specific energy needs for their high-performance computing environments, and while each scouted systems from larger companies, such as IBM Corp. and Hewlett Packard Co., SiCortex’s processing power per watt won the deals for the 80-person startup.
“I think you are going to see more of this as well, because the cost of power in many areas of Europe is still significantly more (than here),” said Stone.
The new system in Germany holds 5,832 core processors, with 8 terabytes of memory and 50 terabytes of disk space. According to a statement from officials at the University of Magdeburg, the school capped its power needs at 60 kilowatts in its request for proposals, and that limit was a problem for other bidders. The SiCortex machine runs at 21 kilowatts, according to the company.
According to Addison Snell, general manager of computer research firm Tabor Research in California, the high-performance computing industry has undergone a shift over the past few years, becoming more accepting of “alternative” cluster computing equipment from companies not yet household names. That dynamic, combined with the increased focus on power-efficient technologies, is giving companies like SiCortex a chance in the space. “I believe there is every opportunity for them to keep moving forward,” he said.
SiCortex sold a total of 60 machines in 2008, according to Stone, and officials expect the low-power wave to continue this year, particularly as the firm moves into new geographies. SiCortex has hired two distributors in Europe over the past six months and is in the process of adding two more. According to Stone, the company has also received inquiries from other parts of the world, particularly Dubai and Australia, but is holding back making any sales in those regions until a support network is established in each region.
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