ClearSpeed Releases Advance(TM) e720 Accelerator Board for HP BladeSystem.

The first 64-bit Double Precision Mezzanine Card Accelerator For HP BladeSystem c-Class Achieves Maximum Performance with No Increase in Footprint and Minimal Increase in Power Consumption

DRESDEN, Germany -- Fourth graph, second line should read: ...increasing LINPACK benchmark scores by over 50 percent (sted: increasing LINPAC benchmark scores by over 50 percent).

The corrected release reads:

CLEARSPEED RELEASES ADVANCE[TM] E720 ACCELERATOR BOARD FOR HP BLADESYSTEM

ClearSpeed Technology (LSE:CSD), the world leader in high-performance, high-reliability parallel processing solutions, today announced the launch of its new Advance e720 accelerator board using the company's new CSX700[TM] processor. The Advance e720 is a PCIe Type II mezzanine card designed specifically to fit within HP BladeSystem c-Class server blades. It combines enhanced features and aggressive pricing to achieve more than twice the price/performance of prior generations of accelerators while consuming approximately 30 percent less power.

The Advance e720 accelerator board is ideal for HP BladeSystem customers with technical computing applications, such as computational electromagnetics (CEM), financial analytics, and life sciences. These computationally dense applications demand the utmost in both speed and reliability, and benefit from the e720's robust system level RAS features.

"Customers can extend their compute infrastructure's performance to meet their increasingly challenging application requirements with this combined offering," said Michael Kendall, worldwide manager, Solution Builder Program, BladeSystem, HP. "The HP BladeSystem architecture and ClearSpeed's innovative Type II mezzanine card deliver maximum performance and high density while reducing requirements for space, power and cooling."

The e720 delivers 96 GFLOPS of 64-bit, double precision performance, increasing LINPACK benchmark scores by over 50 percent and Black Scholes-related workloads by up to 100 percent compared to standard BladeSystem servers. Advance e720 accelerators require no additional space and consume minimal additional power, maximizing the compute density of the BladeSystem c-Class architecture. This combination of high performance, mezzanine card form-factor and super-low power consumption provides unparalleled performance per dollar, performance per watt, and performance per square meter for HP BladeSystem customers.

"The Advance e720 accelerator sets a new standard in HPC by combining industry leading 64-bit, double precision performance with enhanced RAS features," said Ann Johnson, vice president of strategic alliances at ClearSpeed. "Working with HP, we are delivering the Advance e720 in response to the needs of HP BladeSystem customers seeking a solution to the relentless demand for compute cycles while meeting constraints of facilities space and the limits of power and cooling."

The ClearSpeed Advance e720 board has passed HP's BladeSystem compatibility test suite and has been designated as HP BladeSystem c-Class Compatible. The Advance e720 will be available in volume from ClearSpeed in early Q3 of this year.

ClearSpeed is also releasing version 3.10 of its software suite, which includes an advanced application programming interface (API) called CSPX (pronounced 'See Specs'), and developer tools designed to ease host-card communication programming using object migration, which transparently addresses multi-card configurations. This API provides a unique integrated visualization of a heterogeneous system data movement, using source-level debugging and profiling of both the host system and the accelerator.

About the HP BladeSystem c-Class Compatible Designation

HP enables Solution Builder Program members to license specifications and develop add-on products for HP BladeSystem. Products being sold and supported directly by the licensed Solution Builder Program vendors are required to be tested for specification compliance and system compatibility. Components that have been successfully tested are designated by HP as HP BladeSystem c-Class Compatible and are supported directly by the vendor.

About ClearSpeed Technology

ClearSpeed Technology (LSE:CSD) is a semiconductor company that delivers the world's most advanced parallel processing solutions for the most challenging applications ranging from commerce to science to security. This leadership exists because ClearSpeed is unrivalled in meeting the most intense processing needs with maximum energy efficiency and full programmability. ClearSpeed's products include chips, accelerator boards, rack modules, software and support. ClearSpeed has offices in San Jose, California and Bristol, UK and has over 100 patents granted or pending. For more information, visit www.clearspeed.com.