The standard AXIS license allows you to run an AXIS batch job with up to 15 automatic Helpers on one server or workstation. This Standard Distributed Processing is our user-managed solution for reducing the time taken to run long AXIS runs.

There are no additional fees for Standard Distributed Processing.

AXIS GridLink Module

Standard Distributed Processing works very well for a single user running batch jobs on his own computer. This setup cannot be efficiently shared by multiple users working with different versions of AXIS. It does not provide sufficient control, security or performance required for a true production environment.

AXIS GridLink a Grid Computing solution for managing your processing farm. AXIS GridLink is designed for dedicated farms, and gives you a highly efficient and secure multi-user environment.

Note: A GridLink farm must be in one physical location, on one subnet and administered as one farm.

For more information on AXIS GridLink, please visit the following link on our website:

www.ggy.com/gridlink

Pricing for AXIS GridLink farm licenses

Previously we sold each GridLink license for $20,000. This allowed one job queue and covered up to 16 processor cores. Additional Helper licences were available for $1000 each.

Effective January 1^st 2010, we are changing the structure of GridLink pricing. Now you can buy a license that covers the exact number of processor cores used in your farm and the number of job queues you would like to activate. 

The total costs for each group of 16 processor cores plus one job queue have not changed, but you now have much greater flexibility in selecting how many queues (or masters) you can have in your farm. E.g. you can now add a queue to a farm at a lower cost even if you do not add more processor cores.  

Having multiple job queues allows you more flexibility with your farm. For example, if you have two job queues in a 32 core farm, you can:

• Run two distributable jobs simultaneously. The priority attached to each job will determine how many cores are allocated to each job. If one job finishes and there are no other jobs in the queue, the other job will run on all 32 cores.
• Submit your jobs to just one queue when you want maximum processing speed
• Split the farm temporarily into two logically independent farms of 16 cores and one queue each when required

For farms of up to 128 cores, we recommend at least one queue per 32 cores, but you should decide based on your own user requirements for separate work flows. For example, you may want one queue for Production, one for Testing and one for Pricing.

Note there is no longer a minimum number of cores in a GridLink farm.

This is the new pricing for AXIS GridLink farms, effective January 1^st 2010:

Licence	Initial License fee	Monthly maintenance fee
For each processor core	$1,000	$25
For each job queue	$4,000	$125

Example 1:

A license for a 32 processor core AXIS GridLink farm with one job queue will cost:

Initial license fee:                       32 cores x $1,000 + 1 queue x $4,000 = $36,000

Monthly maintenance fee:          32 cores x $25 + 1 queue x $125= $925

Example 2:

A license for a 32 processor core AXIS GridLink farm with two job queues will cost:

Initial license fee:                       32 cores x $1,000 + 2 queues x $4,000 = $40,000

Monthly maintenance fee:          32 cores x $25 + 2 queues x $125 = $1050

Support Hours

Support is normally available during business hours, 9am-6pm (EST or EDT) Monday to Friday. To arrange for evening and weekend support, please contact Bill Young (Bill.Young@ggy.com).

Large GridLink Farms

For Large GridLink farms, special pricing is available.

Note: The large farm must be in one physical location, on one subnet and administered as one farm.

The following is new Large Farm pricing, effective January 1^st, 2010:

Initial License Fee:                    $288,000 (any number of processor cores up to 4096)

Monthly maintenance fee:          $25 per processor core (reduced from $462.50 per 16 cores)

The Large Farm License allows you to:

·         Use up to 4096 processor cores in your farm  

·         Activate as many job queues in the farm as you would like

If you have an existing AXIS GridLink farm and you are planning to increase its size, please note that you will automatically move into this pricing structure when your cumulative purchase price for this one GridLink Farm reaches $288,000. You may also combine separate GridLink Farms into one Large Farm so long as the total Initial License Fee paid reaches $288,000 and your combined farm meets the same conditions – it must be in one physical location, on one subnet and administered as one farm.

Example

If you set up a 512 core farm, your Initial License Fee will be $288,000 and your monthly maintenance fee will be 512 cores x $25 = $12,800. You can activate any number of job queues in this farm with no additional fees.

Note that the current maximum number of cores working on any one particular AXIS job is currently 256, and we plan to increase this number over time. To fully utilize a farm larger than 256 cores you can run jobs in parallel in multiple queues. In a large farm the number of queues available will be freely selected by the users to a maximum of the total number of servers in the farm (each queue requires a physical server).