How Your Computer Can Save The World In Its Spare

How Your Computer Can Save The World In Its Spare Time

Those of us that have been watching the development of the computer industry for some years may remember that one of the alternatives to massive supercomputers developed ten or fifteen years ago was the use of large numbers of smaller computers working in tandem. The concept involves using a “massively parallel server” that can scale hundreds, even thousands of CPUs to function in cooperation while executing a project that requires enormous computing power. The server essentially allocates tasks, or portions of tasks to different low-level machines and gathers the resultant data for a completed project.

Distributed computing projects are the contemporary version of massively parallel computing. The advent of broadband technology has allowed the usage of machines that are remotely located and that need not be hard wired to the “mother ship,” so to speak. The result has been some fascinating projects that combine digital cooperation in social, cultural and medical endeavors that include any interested party who has the right equipment and wants to participate.

One of the recent...