Wikipedia

Draft:Parallel Works

  • Comment: In accordance with the Wikimedia Foundation's Terms of Use, I disclose that I have been paid by my employer for my contributions to this article. Giraffesyo (talk) 23:03, 19 July 2026 (UTC)
Parallel Works, Inc.
TypePrivate
IndustryHigh-performance computing, cloud computing, artificial intelligence
Founded2015; 11 years ago (2015) in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
FoundersMichael Wilde
Matthew Shaxted
Headquarters
Chicago, Illinois
,
United States
Key people
Matthew Shaxted (CEO)
Michael Wilde
ProductsACTIVATE
Websiteparallelworks.com

Parallel Works, Inc. is an American software company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, that develops ACTIVATE, a control-plane platform for configuring and managing high-performance computing (HPC) workloads across on-premises clusters and multiple public clouds.[1] The company was founded in 2015 as a commercial spin-off of workflow technology developed at Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago.[2] Its platform is used by United States government research organizations including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the United States Department of Defense's High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP).[3][4]

History

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Parallel Works was founded in 2015 by Michael Wilde and Matthew Shaxted.[2] The company's technology is based on the open-source Swift parallel scripting language, whose development Michael Wilde led at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory beginning around 2005.[2][5] Shaxted, previously a civil engineer at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, joined Wilde to apply the technology to computing problems in architecture, civil engineering, and urban planning.[2]

The startup received early support from the University of Chicago's Computation Institute, including an innovation grant,[6] and in 2016 was awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research grant from the United States Department of Energy.[2] The company launched its cloud HPC workflow platform commercially in 2017.[2]

Argonne National Laboratory and Parallel Works received the Federal Laboratory Consortium's Midwest Regional award in 2021, and its national award for Excellence in Technology Transfer in 2022, for commercializing Argonne's machine learning–genetic algorithm (ML-GA) design optimization software.[7][8]

NOAA's Research and Development High Performance Computing Systems (RDHPCS) program adopted the Parallel Works platform to provision and manage on-demand HPC clusters on Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure for NOAA researchers.[3][9]

In July 2024, the company launched ACTIVATE, a rebranded and expanded version of its platform for managing computing resources for AI model training, simulation, and research workloads.[1] In April 2025, the company's ACTIVATE High Security Platform received a Department of Defense Impact Level 5 (IL5) Provisional Authorization from the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), which the company described as the first such authorization for a hybrid multi-cloud computing platform.[10] In June 2026, Parallel Works announced that the HPCMP had awarded it a contract to provide Department of Defense scientists and engineers with unified access to on-premises and cloud computing resources, connecting the program's Defense Supercomputing Resource Centers with commercial cloud infrastructure.[4][11][12]

Products

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The company's primary product, ACTIVATE, is a control plane that provides a single interface for provisioning and managing computing clusters across on-premises systems and multiple public cloud providers, including workload scheduling, cost controls, and user management.[1][13] The platform supports elastic cluster provisioning with HPC workload managers such as Slurm.[13]

In 2025, the company introduced an AI partner ecosystem for access to GPU infrastructure providers,[14] and in 2026 added ACTIVATE AI, a gateway for managing organizational access to commercial and privately hosted large language models with usage governance and token budgeting.[15][16] Michael McQuade, the company's director of engineering, described the product as providing "a unified governance layer across both commercial AI APIs and private infrastructure".[16] The company also offers a High Security Platform variant for national security workloads, authorized to handle Controlled Unclassified Information and ITAR data.[10]

References

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  1. 1 2 3 "Parallel Works Launches ACTIVATE: Seamlessly Configure, Access and Manage High Performance Resources for AI Model Training, Complex Simulation and Research" (Press release). July 31, 2024. Retrieved July 19, 2026 – via Business Wire.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hemsoth, Nicole (February 9, 2017). "HPC Cloud Startup Launches 'App Store' for HPC Workflows". HPCwire. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  3. 1 2 "RDHPCS Cloud Computing". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  4. 1 2 "Parallel Works Awarded Contract with Department of Defense's High Performance Computing Modernization Program" (Press release). June 16, 2026. Retrieved July 19, 2026 – via Business Wire.
  5. ↑ "Swift: Fast Parallel Scripting Language". Argonne National Laboratory. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Parallel Push: Innovation Grant Boosts CI-Related Startup". Computation Institute, University of Chicago. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  7. ↑ "Argonne and Parallel Works Inc. win FLC recognition for commercializing lab's machine learning-based design optimization software technology". Argonne National Laboratory. 2021. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  8. ↑ "Argonne and Parallel Works win highest honor from Federal Laboratory Consortium for Excellence in Technology Transfer". Argonne National Laboratory. 2022. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  9. ↑ "Cloud HPC". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  10. 1 2 "Parallel Works Unveils ACTIVATE High Security Platform; Achieves U.S. Department of Defense IL5 Provisional Authorization from DISA" (Press release). April 29, 2025. Retrieved July 19, 2026 – via Business Wire.
  11. ↑ "Parallel Works to Link US Military Supercomputers to Commercial Clouds". The Defense Post. June 18, 2026. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  12. ↑ "Parallel Works to Provide Unified HPC and Cloud Control Plane for Defense Researchers". HPCwire. June 2026. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  13. 1 2 "The HPC Debrief: Matthew Shaxted, CEO of Parallel Works". HPCwire. October 20, 2024. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  14. ↑ "Parallel Works Unveils AI Partner Ecosystem, Simplifying Access to Next-Gen AI Infrastructure". HPCwire. July 2025. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Parallel Works Adds AI Governance and Token Budgeting to ACTIVATE AI". HPCwire. June 2026. Retrieved July 19, 2026.
  16. 1 2 "Parallel Works adds AI governance & token budgeting". IT Brief Australia. June 18, 2026. Retrieved July 19, 2026.

Category:Software companies based in Illinois Category:Companies based in Chicago Category:Software companies established in 2015 Category:2015 establishments in Illinois Category:High-performance computing Category:Cloud computing providers

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