Single Instance of SQL Server 2005 Supports 120-Node Grid Computing for Risk Analysis

Banks and other financial institutions around the world use SunGard BancWare ALM to run complex modelling to determine their risk in managing assets and liabilities. There are so many variables to consider that SunGard customers typically deploy BancWare ALM using several computers networked together - with the application and database coordinating multipath processing. The company upgraded its database to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition (64-bit) and used Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors to create a 120-node computing grid. The application tier, which also supports data compression, is hosted on a Dell Dimension DXc051 computer with two Intel Pentium D processors with 3.25 gigabytes (GB) of RAM, and running on the Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2 operating system.