Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 brings together the power of commodity x64 (64-bit x86) computers, the ease of use and security of Active Directory directory service, and the Windows operating system to provide a security-enhanced and affordable high-performance computing (HPC) solution.

Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 can be easily and quickly deployed using standard Windows deployment technologies, and additional compute nodes can be added to the compute cluster by simply plugging in the nodes and connecting them. The Microsoft Message Passing Interface (MS-MPI) implementation is fully compatible with the reference MPICH2. Integration with Active Directory enables role-based security for administration and users, and the use of Microsoft Management Console provides a familiar administrative and scheduling interface.