Sun Microsystems (Quote, Company Info) and IBM (Quote, Company Info) are once again going head-to-head in their efforts to lure new customers. Both companies have announced plans to reshape their high-performance computing offerings through the formation of new business units.

Sun earlier this month announced the creation of its High Performance and Technical Computing (HPTC) unit and IBM this week unveiled its Deep Thinking unit. Both firms want use these ventures to rein in their intensive computing efforts by better defining them to serve customers. They believe creating HPTC systems that draw resources from their software, services, sales and storage divisions should help them do that.

HPTC is a market segment that uses complex, large-scale computers to perform any number of tasks from gauging weather patterns to running tests in life sciences organizations. Grid computing (define) -- the application of many computers' resources to a single problem at the same time -- is one facet of the HPTC segment. Until now, both Sun and IBM have been rolling out separate computer systems piecemeal, but by integrating them with their other hardware and software product offerings, they hope they will be better able to market these high-priced systems to prospective customers in need of serious number crunching.

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