From end user to high performance

Changing positions in the same team

After three amazing years helping Microsoft customers and partners with #AzureVirtualDesktop ( #AVD) and #Windows365 ( #W365) as a GBB (Microsoft lingo for a person that specializes in a certain Azure workload), I’m super excited to be joining another GBB Team in Microsoft: the #Azure #HPC (High Performance Computing) team. In this post I’ll explain why I am so excited about Azure HPC.

Moving from End User Computing to High Performance Computing

First of all, after about 20 years, this the first time I’m not doing a job that is purely about #EndUserComputing – and that is part of why I am excited about it. Now I will be (am) learning a tremendous amount in a new exciting area #neverstoplearining. Another part is AVD (and EUC in the cloud) have been around for a while now and (without going into details) it can safely be deemed a success for Microsoft ??. Azure HPC, although a huge business, still is a relatively young offering and there is a tremendous of growth potential – we’re really just at the beginning and that excites me.

Azure HPC - what is it and why?

Next, a confession: when I first got introduced to HPC (via AVD projects) it was a bit confusing to me. Because what is HPC precisely? As it turns out, it is a very valid question. Think of it like this: HPC is nothing more than an umbrella term (Microsoft internal if anything) for workloads that require extreme / super computing capabilities. Or more precisely: Azure HPC is a complete set of computing, networking, and storage resources integrated with workload orchestration services for HPC applications. With purpose-built HPC infrastructure, solutions, and optimized application services, Azure offers competitive price/performance compared to on-premises options. with additional high-performance computing benefits. Additionally, Azure includes next-generation machine-learning tools to drive smarter simulations and empower intelligent decision making.

For me, the best way to define what Azure HPC is – and this is exactly why I am so excited – is by looking at how it allows our customers to achieve more. Consider there amazing examples across different industries:

• Duke University rushed to find a safe and easy way to effectively split a single ventilator between two patients when they became a scarce resource during the COVID-19 pandemic. They partnered with Microsoft AI for Health to run more than 800,000 computer hours in just 36 hours to build a life-saving solution.

• Rimac ,using Azure HPC, created a near 2,000-horsepower electric sports car that can be fully charged in as little as 20 minutes, and is the world’s fastest accelerating production car, reaching the record time of 8.582 seconds per quarter mile at a top speed of 167.51 mph. Rimac also supplies leading-edge electric vehicle technology and components to other manufacturers, including Porsche and Bugatti. Azure Supercomputing for supercars!

• Dehn supplies use Azure HPC to create better lighting and surge protection for their customer. By using Azure HPC they can run simulations that they could not before without investing in knowledge or hardware upfront.

• The University of Bath teamed with Microsoft to more effectively and efficiently educate the next generation of academic researchers from pharmaceutical development to astrophysics. With Azure HPC + AI, they are no longer constrained to whatever they can fit into a machine room - if they have the vision, research to support, and funding for it, the sky is the limit!

• Outpost VFX teamed with Microsoft HPC to insert a lion, indistinguishable from a real one,?into part of a film – where there never was a lion at all!

• Vestas plays a big role in the global energy transition.

With Azure HPC, Vestas now has the means to generate simulations that offer the potential to help wind farms mitigate wake effect, generate more wind energy, and build a sustainable and prosperous energy future.

Achieving more together

So whether it is savings lives, helping protect our fragile earth, educating our future scientists or even creating supercars (or lions) – they are all examples of why I am so excited. With Azure HPC we’re really helping customers achieve groundbreaking results that have a true impact for their core business – and the customers of their business and I could not be more excited!

Let me know we can help you with anything – even if you are not sure if it is about Azure HPC, we’re here to help you achieve more! And for the #EUC folks out there, I will not be going very far so let's not be strangers!