Microsoft hires supercomputing pioneer Burton Smith

Software giant Microsoft recently announced their plans to enter the software market for supercomputers. They are currently developing a version of windows, which would be supporting the growing market for supercomputing products. And the latest news from the company is that they have just hired supercomputing pioneer Burton Smith with aims of strengthening their development of products for high-performance computing.

Smith is currently the chief scientist at supercomputer maker Cray Inc. and he would be joining the software company next month. This hiring gives Microsoft access to the principal architect of Cray’s supercomputer system. Smith was also the head of a project aimed at developing new supercomputers.

Market analysts say that this latest hiring is part of the company chairman Bill Gate’s vision to move into more advanced fields. By developing products for the supercomputers, Microsoft could soon target markets like pharmaceuticals, aerospace and defense. Currently, open source products dominate this segment, as there is no established company providing custom-made applications for various supercomputing utilities.

Smith is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his current employer has no plans to immediately announce a replacement.