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)