I was tasked with finding a compute cluster for a small gov contractor research lab. I spoke with IBM, Sun, SGI, Dell you name it. None could inform me more tha

I was tasked with finding a compute cluster for a small gov contractor research lab. I spoke with IBM, Sun, SGI, Dell you name it. None could inform me more than their brochures. Then I filled a form on LinuxHPC website. Quotes from smaller vendors started coming, most just VARs for the big boys. Except one shop in the midwest: those guys didn't waste any time, the entire team dialed us in and we could ask each specialist about the product. Even the cabinet maker dude who made the rugged, wheeled storage units for DoD; some other guy who could water-proof computers to stupid levels, etc. Sigh, I'll miss the days when America made stuff :-|