IT Clusters

IT clusters is a term used to describe a group of computers that are set up in such a way that they are able to work closely together and function as one computer. IT clusters are frequently used by companies and organisations that require the use of a very powerful computing system. IT clusters will typically be linked together with very high speed local area networks.

IT clusters are used by companies that require a high level of availability from their computer networks as IT clusters are more reliable and have a higher level of accessibility than stand alone machines.

The relation of performance to the cost of IT clusters in one of the main reasons that they are used. IT clusters are able to provide an incredibly high level of performance at a comparatively low cost which is why they are often used by institutions such as universities as IT clusters are significantly cheaper than a comparatively powerful mainframe computer.

The performance of IT clusters is measured in FLOPS, which stands for ‘floating point operations per second’ and most IT clusters are capable of reaching levels of performance approaching 10 Terra-FLOPS. Because of their extremely high levels of performance IT clusters are only every used by organisations and companies that require such extremely powerful computers. TOP 500 is an organisation that records the top 500 most powerful computers and their list normally features a high proportion of IT clusters.