Invitation to Cluster Vendors

The growth of cluster computing has been nurtured by a strong community of designers, users, and vendors. Current cluster technology however, is not without it's challenges. Issues such as best practices, standards, benchmarking, education, and third party software are often cited as "hold backs" to the continued growth of the market and increased sales.

Meeting these challenges as individuals is a daunting task. However, as a community, we have the ability to identify and address these issues. ClusterMonkey.net has teamed with community leaders as a first step toward advancing the cluster market.

Our goal is to produce a document, called "The Cluster Agenda", which will begin to address the needs of the community. Used as a guide or road map, the Agenda will benefit both the current cluster community and those who wish to enter the community (i.e. Industrial Users, Independent Software Vendors, and Others).

We expect the Cluster Agenda to be the "go to document" for the entire cluster community. The Agenda will become a road map that details best practices and helps navigate the important choice points facing all users of cluster technology. It will also designate work in progress that will help meet community challenges. The Agenda will not be an attempt to standardize or pick winners.

Community, both user and vendor, input will be critical to the success of this initiative. Our goal is to include everyone and focus on what the community needs. The following are the milestone events that will be used to develop the Agenda document.

• September 2005: Launch Wiki and create the document
• November 2005: Draft Version "The Cluster Agenda 2006" will be available.
• January 2006: General Release at this time.

When released, the agenda will be available freely available in electronic format.

Sponsoring the Agenda Sponsoring the Cluster Agenda is quite simple. By sponsoring ClusterMonkey.net, you will also be sponsoring the Cluster Agenda. We have various sponsorship levels available. All Platinum Sponsors become members of the Cluster Agenda Industry Advisory Board. Please contact the Head Monkey for more information.