Computational Philanthropy - The World Community Grid

Written by Martin Winer


Have you ever wondered what your computer does when you're not there to provide it with stimulation? On Windows, it runs a process calledrepparttar 'System Idle Process'. Doesn't sound very intellectually challenging does it? As far as an intellectual challenge, let’s not flatter ourselves either: To our computers we move atrepparttar 107596 speed of molasses in winter.

Well what if your computer could be running software that benefited humanity in its ample spare time? That is preciselyrepparttar 107597 taskrepparttar 107598 World Community Grid offers your computer when you aren't using it.

Currently,repparttar 107599 World Community Grid is looking to dramatically shortenrepparttar 107600 Human Proteome Folding Project. This is a project that could take years even onrepparttar 107601 most powerful supercomputer. The answer is to take advantage of parallelization (using many computers at once) to dramatically shorten this computational time.

Many of us have heard ofrepparttar 107602 Human Genome Project that recently completed a map of all human genes. In order for that information to be useful, scientists seek to understand howrepparttar 107603 proteins that those genes code for are formed in a process called protein folding. It isrepparttar 107604 shape of proteins that determine their bio-chemical properties. Knowledge of protein folding could, one day, be used in dramatic treatments of all diseases.

HPC Systems, Inc. Announces First 8-Way Processor AMD Opteron™ Server

Written by Andrew Oh


San Jose, CA November 16, 2004 –- HPC Systems, Inc. announcesrepparttar availability ofrepparttar 107595 A5220HS Server,repparttar 107596 industry’s first 8 Processor AMD Opteron™ based Server utilizing HTX-PRO™ technology by Iwill USA Corporation. This technology allowsrepparttar 107597 AMD64 Direct Connect Architecture to achieve its full potential, providing infinite possibilities in customization and unparalleled bandwidth access in I/O intensive applications.

The A5220HS leveragesrepparttar 107598 AMD64 Direct Connect Architecture already standard on all AMD Opteron™ systems through Iwill's HTX-Pro™ HyperTransport interconnect. HTX-Pro usesrepparttar 107599 same HyperTransport technology bus that connects memory, I/O and processors to also connect expansion I/O devices directly torepparttar 107600 AMD Opteron™ processor at 6.4GB/s (or higher if available) of total bandwidth per HyperTransport technology link. HTX-Pro™ allows for a modular system design, freeingrepparttar 107601 motherboard from handling expansion buses and devices such as PCI, PCI-X and InfiniBand by concentrating those functions into separate system boards connected by HTX-Pro, allowingrepparttar 107602 I/O portion ofrepparttar 107603 system to be upgraded without replacingrepparttar 107604 entire platform. A user may start usingrepparttar 107605 platform based around PCI-X add-in devices and upgrade to PCI-Express at a later date by simply changing outrepparttar 107606 modular I/O board.

“The A5220HS brings a highly scalable, high performance integrated, 64-bit computing solution torepparttar 107607 enterprise market. The lower price and superior scalability and performance ofrepparttar 107608 AMD Opteron™ processor, relative to other available 64 bit architectures, allow systems likerepparttar 107609 A5220HS to bring a level of performance previously too expensive for many to consider,” said Jim Bowen, HPC Systems’ Director of Systems Engineering. “Whether handling corporate databases or performing complex scientific computations,repparttar 107610 A5520HS is a workhorse for enterprise.”

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