Be part of Distributing Computing History

Be part of Distributing Computing History

By Vishnu K. Mahmud

JAKARTA (JP): Have you ever walked into a newsroom or
corporate office on the weekend and noticed that many of the
computers are still on? Some of them may have funny screensavers
whizzing around the monitor while other displays may be blank.
Either way, the computer itself quietly whirls in the background
doing absolutely nothing. What is the first thought in your mind?
What a waste of electricity? Or perhaps what a waste of unused
computing power?

Computers do not always constantly process requests or handle
inputs and outputs. Operating Systems nowadays manage such
demands by queuing all requests one by one, which are then
executed by the processor. When there is nothing for the CPU to
do (display a movie, play a computer game or type text onto the
monitor), the system is considered idle until the next request
arrives. Those activated computers in the offices during the
weekend are definitely sitting idle.

Instead of turning those computers off, one could put all that
computing power into good use. It could be part of a network of
distributed computers, a way of linking many PCs into one giant
supercomputer. Therefore, instead of having one processor do one
task at a time, many requests could be done simultaneously on
numerous processors. They gather up a list of necessary queries
and distribute them to be processed in various computers
scattered all over the world.

One of the earliest projects using this dissemination method
is SETI@Home (http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu). SETI (Search
for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) at home is a project
sponsored by the University of California, Berkeley. It takes
data collected by Project SERENDIP from the gigantic Arecibo
Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico and distributes it to volunteers
around the world who donate their computer time to find strong
narrow band signals, pulsing radio waves or drifting signals. In
essence, signs of intelligent life.

As of February of last year, over 1.6 million people in 224
countries had volunteered their computer processor. The amount
of computing time since May 1999 has been equal to 165,000 years,
averaging 15 teraflops (trillions of calculations per second).
So far, the project has cost about US$500,000. Compare that with
a $110 million IBM ASCI (Accelerated Strategic Computing
Initiative) White Supercomputer that has a maximum output of
12.28 teraflops.

The scale of this project is enormous. Each set of volunteer
PCs gets a work unit (data) to process, whose result is sent back
to the master server. Work units are usually sent out to
multiple volunteers to confirm and cross-check the calculations.
If a work unit does not return within a set amount of time, the
same unit is sent to another volunteer. And above all that,
scientists must pore over the results of the potential "first
contact" reports. Imaging doing this with a calculator, a radio
telescope, a star chart and a set of headphones.

Private companies have also begun to join the distributed
computing bandwagon. United Devices (http://www.ud.com) is a
company at the vanguard of such methods considering that its
Chief Technology Officer is the Project Director (and software
designer) for Seti@Home. They offer corporations supercomputing
solutions that can accelerate project results while managing
costs. Biotech companies, financial institutions, aerospace
industries, weather bureaus and computer graphics houses are
excellent potential clients.

The company accepts volunteers to their network in exchange
for prizes and recognition. But most people join to actually
make a contribution to society. The company motto is "Don't just
make a donation. Make a Difference". With sponsorship from the
Intel Corporation, United Devices is currently helping to process
molecular research data from the Department of Chemistry at the
Oxford University in England and the National Foundation for
Cancer Research in the quest of its search for cancer. People may
be able to win a new laptop computer, free airline tickets or
cash, but the actual gift to mankind is priceless.

Schools, private companies and individuals have lined up to
"make a difference". All it takes is a small download and an
internet connection. The net link is only required to download
data and upload the results. All processing can be done offline.
So those of you without broadband connections can use dialups
(when properly configured). So if you have a cable modem and a
computer that you rarely turn off (be it to download MP3s or
program files) you may want to consider helping out.

It probably cannot be stressed enough that everyone can make a
difference. Every person counts. I am sure former US Vice-
President Al Gore (who lost the last American election by the
slimmest of numbers) knows that only too well.
(vmahmud@yahoo.com)