Director, IT Server Farm Initiative, Cadence Design Systems.
Tom Grotton has been in the computer industry for over 30 years. He has worked in Department of Defense's Space Systems, Satellite Command and Control computer systems, headed DOD's Space Vehicle Real-Time Operations Group, has a strong background in engineering business process definition and development. His technical background includes heading R&D system configuration management and integration organizations in various companies including Motorola and Honeywell. Before moving to Cadence, Tom managed IT for a division of Honeywell. He joined Cadence in 1998 as a Director of Configuration Management with national and international responsibilities. While in R&D, he was asked in 2000 to define a way to more efficiently maximize the use of resources, both people and hardware in the R&D environment. His vision was accepted by upper management and he set out to implement his vision. To gain the most impact for his solution to the company he was asked to transfer into the Worldwide IT organization. His contributions to the company include a cost reduction of $80M over a five year period. By 2002, he reduced the cost of operations in Cadence by $15M. Tom sits on a variety of corporate steering committees and leads grid computing for the company.
Server Farm Initiatives, Tom Grotton, Cadence
The Server Farm Initiative (SFI) is a IT company-wide initiative to maximize the use of investment in the thousands of computer systems that are deployed throughout Cadence. SFI uses gridMatrix Technology and Distributed Resource Management software, such as, LSF, Condor, SGE , PBS, etc., to minimize and optimize workflow runs in a grid of computers. The result is a standardized implementation within and across groups maximizing utilization of existing compute resources. It makes implementation and maintenance more cost effective and transportable. SFI, also, provides the standardization of hundreds of common development tools, both Public and Private. This means significantly reduced costs and produces a standardized set of software development tools. The benefits are a truly virtualized grid which directly reduces license costs, positions the reuse of IP, and lowered support costs. SFI reduces and standardizes hardware, OS, and patch levels in grids to allow for the sharing and increased utilization of those servers amongst all Cadence Business Units. This dramatically improves the utilization rate, reduces production time, increased efficiency of people and hardware, provides Cadence the flexibility to assign capital resources to the most critical work at a project, business unit, or company level, while enabling and supporting the globalization of our resources. The Server Farm Initiative enables a significant reduction in operating and capital costs for IT, R&D, Quality, WFO and Cadence in general.
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