Thursday, October 16, 2008

Grid Computing and you...


Grid Computing is a computer term that you might have seen or heard mentioned in the news. Grid Computing is where a client can send a massive computing assignment over the internet and the assignment is broken into chunks and distributed among multiple computers which compute their part of the assignment simultaneously. As assignment chunks are completed, they are passed back to be collected as the final answer. The final answer may be the end result, or it may result in additional studies. This computing methodology is used by large research and industry firms, universities, and government agencies. The point of doing this is because multiple computers working together can get an answer to a large problem faster than one really fast computer is likely to do on its own.

But what does this have to do with any of us? If you’re interested in ways you can help discover new drugs, better our understanding of future climate change, investigate outer space, research mathematical theory, or even search for extra-terrestrial life, the Berkeley University of California has created software that can enable you to participate in volunteer grid computing to research a common good. There are many projects in which you can donate the computing power of your PC, without sacrificing the PC for your own use. You see, the majority of your computer CPU processing (90-99%) is spent waiting for you to give it something to do. The Berkely software (BOINC) fills this unused computing time by computing research data instead of letting the CPU idly wait. When you later use your computer, the software halts until you're done, and then continues again when you are no longer using the CPU.

While I’m sleeping, eating, watching TV, and at work, my computer is actively computing research data for new drugs, physics, discoveries of outer space, and even searches for extra-terrestrial life. By downloading the BOINC software from the Berkely University of California, you can participate in research projects that can benefit from your computer, and still use the computer for what you want to do.

Go ahead and give your computer something to do…

Learn more at http://boinc.berkely.edu/

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