Patent ID: 8688812

Claim:
A method for cluster computing, comprising: initializing, by a basic input/output service (BIOS), in response to power on or reset of a server, a plurality of components of the server up to an option read-only memory (ROM) scan stage; transferring control by the BIOS of the server to a network interface card (NIC) of the server, after the initialization of the server up to the option ROM scan stage; loading into system memory of the server, by the NIC, a cluster computing operating system, wherein at least a micro-kernel of the cluster computing operating system is stored in an option ROM of the NIC; transferring, by the NIC, control of the server to the cluster computing operating system, and completing initialization of the server, by the cluster computing operating system; wherein the server and at least one other server, having a NIC with a similarly provisioned option ROM, form a computing cluster via the cluster computing operating system.