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MAY 27, 2002
By
Chang
Ai-Lien RESEARCHERS here have come up with software which allows companies to share their idle computing power, so that they can unleash the energy of a supercomputer without the need to spend millions of dollars. Using the same software, companies also can sell their unused computing power to facilities which need enormous processing power to perform complicated functions, such as mapping out the three-dimensional structure of molecules. Associate Professor Teo Yong Meng, from the computer science department at the National University of Singapore, is the brains behind the project. 'Most companies do not use their computing resources 24 hours a day. In fact, more than three-quarters of a company's hardware resources are unused on an average day,' he said. 'The software allows companies to harness all these untapped resources and have the power of a supercomputer.' Apart from combining resources or selling power, he added that companies operating in different time zones could also use a single set of equipment. This is possible because, while one company is using the computing power, the other is closed for the night. He explained: 'With every company buying its own IT resources, it's as if each one has a small power plant in its office to provide electricity. 'But it would be far more efficient for everyone to get power from one giant plant. 'Computing power should be like electricity or water: Just plug into a socket or turn on a tap and have as much as you want.' Part of his project also involved a programming environment which develops applications for grid systems - which connect high-performance computers in different locations, boosting their processing power and allowing resources to be shared. Prof Teo said that his software does more than distributed-computing projects, which rely on Internet users donating unused processing power to research. For example, his software allows users to submit what they want to calculate or do research on and it will automatically gather the necessary computing power for the task. For the project, Prof Teo, together with master's student Johan Prawira Gozali, recently took top spot at the third Start-Up@Singapore -National Techno-Venture Business Plan Competition. They beat almost 90 other teams and shared first place with a team which looked at the modelling of metabolic pathways. Prof Teo and Mr Gozali will represent Singapore at the Global Entrepreneur Challenge 2002, which is organised by Stanford University and NUS and which will bring together about 20 winning teams of business plan competitions at universities worldwide to vie for top place. Copyright @ 2002 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved. |