Prior art

Based on a technical analysis of the patent citations listed for U.S. Patent 8,352,584, the following prior art references are identified as most relevant. The analysis focuses on the potential for anticipation of the independent claims (Claim 1 and Claim 10) under 35 U.S.C. § 102, which requires a single prior art reference to disclose every element of the claim.

Most Relevant Prior Art

The most significant prior art references are those that disclose the core concept of a third-party hosting provider offering customized, isolated computing environments to different clients.

1. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2009/0019535 A1

• Full Citation: US 2009/0019535 A1, "Method and remote system for creating a customized server infrastructure in real time".
• Filing Date: July 10, 2007.
• Brief Description: This application describes a system operated by a hosting provider that allows a customer to remotely design and provision a custom server infrastructure in real-time. Customers can select from a pool of available computing resources (servers, storage, networking) to create a dedicated, isolated environment tailored to their specific needs. This architecture is designed for multi-tenancy, where different customers receive different, isolated infrastructures.
• Potential Anticipation of Claims: This reference appears to disclose the key elements of independent claims 1 and 10.
  • It describes a multi-tenant hosting environment, which inherently requires a private communications network at the hosting facility linked to a public communications network for client access.
  • It explicitly allows different customers to create different environments, thus teaching a first cluster in a first configuration for one client and a second cluster in a second configuration for another, where the configurations differ.
  • The system includes necessary firewall capabilities and network partitioning to isolate customers and limit a specific client's access to their own provisioned cluster.
  • A monitoring system is an implicit and necessary component for the hosting provider to manage the underlying pool of resources and ensure service availability.
  • The primary distinction for patentability may be the '584 patent's specific claim limitation that both clusters are "high performance clusters" (HPC). However, if the '535 reference allows a customer to provision a configuration powerful enough to be considered an HPC cluster, it could be argued to anticipate these claims.

2. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0143350 A1

• Full Citation: US 2006/0143350 A1, "Apparatus, method and system for aggregrating computing resources".
• Filing Date: December 30, 2003.
• Brief Description: With a very early filing date, this reference discloses a system for aggregating commodity computing resources into a "grid." This grid can then be logically partitioned to create virtual, private computing environments for multiple users. The system allows users to define their required virtual machines, storage, and network configurations, resulting in custom-built, isolated clusters provisioned from a shared hardware pool. This is a foundational concept for modern Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) cloud computing.
• Potential Anticipation of Claims: This reference is highly relevant and potentially anticipates claims 1 and 10.
  • It teaches the creation of multiple (first and second), isolated, custom-configured (first configuration and second configuration) computing clusters for different users from a central, hosted resource pool.
  • The system architecture requires client access over a public network, isolation between tenants (functionally requiring firewalls and gateways), and a monitoring system for the provider to manage the grid.
  • As with the '535 reference, its potential anticipation of claims 1 and 10 may depend on whether the system's capability to create powerful, user-defined environments is considered to be the creation of "HPC clusters." Given the flexibility described, a user could configure a cluster for high-performance tasks.

Other Relevant Cited Art

U.S. Patent No. 6,438,705 B1

• Full Citation: US 6,438,705 B1, "Method and apparatus for building and managing multi-clustered computer systems".
• Filing Date: January 29, 1999.
• Brief Description: This patent, which is explicitly discussed and distinguished in the background section of the '584 patent, describes a system for managing multiple high-availability clusters. It provides a centralized console for monitoring and managing these clusters.
• Potential Anticipation of Claims: This reference is less likely to anticipate the claims directly. The '584 patent argues that the '705 patent is distinguishable because it requires a "uniform design" for all managed clusters, contrasting with the '584 patent's claim of differing, custom configurations. Furthermore, the '705 patent appears to describe a tool for an enterprise to manage its own on-premise clusters, rather than a third-party hosting service for remote clients. Therefore, it likely fails to disclose the elements of differing configurations for different client tasks and the multi-tenant hosted access model, making it poor grounds for a § 102 anticipation challenge.