Satyam launches dedicated ''grid computing''

Mumbai: Satyam Computer Services Ltd (NYSE: 'SAY') announced the formal launch of its 'grid computing' practice. Grid computing is a new age technology that helps an enterprise maximise the utilisation of its computational resources without additional investments, thus dramatically decreasing computation time, enabling reduced time-to-market and increasing overall productivity. Key application areas include life sciences, government, financial services, geo-sciences and manufacturing.

Grid computing is expected to usher in the third wave in IT after the internet and the world wide web. In 2001, Forbes predicted the grid would be a US$20 trillion industry by the year 2020. Twelve per cent of companies say they have either deployed or planned a grid computing implementation within the next year (Evans Data). IDC estimates the world grid market to exceed US$12 billion by 2007.

Grid computing, an evolutionary technology platform, is expected to dominate computing in the coming years, and could change the way computing resources are utilised. It is part of Satyam's consulting and enterprise solutions unit, in which it is a leader. Over 28 per cent of the company's revenues are derived from this area.

Satyam's investments in the practice include setting up a grid computing facility at Chennai, building strong competencies, establishing global alliances with leading product vendors and developing 'proof of concept' for various applications. It has an established alliance with United Devices Inc, a US-based leader in secured grid solutions, and is discussing partnerships with other leaders in the field. "Our pioneering investment in grid computing is a preemptive step to establish leadership in the field," says Satyam's director for consulting and enterprise solutions G B Prabhat.

Satyam recently executed a grid project for Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL), a leading Indian pharma company engaged in drug discovery. The pilot challenge was to grid-enable the molecular docking application to demonstrate the power of the grid. Conventional systems restricted the number of molecules to be processed at a time, owing to long duration runs. Satyam deployed the application on the grid, developed interface programs and submitted a large database of 59,000 molecules to run on the grid of 50 nodes built across two facilities at DRL, which yielded extraordinary results. "The run time was reduced from 25 days on a standalone machine to about 16 hours on a grid of 50 nodes," said Dr Reddy's senior vice president Raghuraman.

Companies can progress rapidly in their research and design projects, owing to a significant increase in number crunching speeds and the consequent reduction in time-to-market, improving the return on investment (RoI) on technology equation.

Satyam's in-house grid computing facility — consisting of a grid of 200 nodes across two locations — models a typical enterprise-wide network. It is equipped with grid computing hardware and software, simulating a live grid environment with 500 gigaflops computation power. Customers can run sample applications on this platform to experience the advantage of grid computing, helping them look before they leap.

Recently, the bioinformatics department of the University of Pune executed a project in Satyam's 'grid lab'. "The grid enabled considerably faster processing of our molecular database. A grid can be an alternative to expensive high-power computers," said Professor of Pune University's Institute of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Dr Indira Ghosh. Satyam also uses this facility internally, for application development and scenario testing.