13.12.2007
PS3 Consoles as Super Computers
Nordisk Film Interactive and IBM donate 30 PS3s to the universities of Copenhagen and Aalborg. They will be used as super computers for research.
Nordisk Film Interactive, which distributes Sony PlayStation in the Nordic countries, and IBM now collaborate with the universities of Copenhagen and Aalborg on building super computer units using PlayStation 3 gaming consoles. The two universities receive 15 PS3s each that will be connected in so-called clusters of five to eight PS3s.
The most powerful home computer
The processor in a PlayStation 3 makes the console the most powerful home computer on the Danish market compared to the price. In the US, there are already a number of PS3 clusters, but it is the first time Danish researchers to work actively on creating calculating power with clusters of PS3s.
“You cannot just plug in a PlayStation, and then have a super computer. First, you must have a well-functioning control system – in this case Linux. Second, you must connect a number of consoles in a cluster, and often you have to connect them to existing computers that can translate the calculating power into a result we can use for science,” says Professor Brian Vinter from the University of Copenhagen.
PS3s upgrade Danish research
The gaming consoles will be used to achieve complex calculations for the development of wind mill material, gene research, cancer treatment and metrological calculations. If the experiment with the cheap computer clusters is a success, it can be of great importance for Denmark’s position as leading country within research and innovation.
“If Denmark is to compete with countries such as China, a bigger part of the research and product development must be moved from resource demanding laboratories to automatic computer simulations. Therefore, we have to expand the capacity and calculating power, and actually, a PS3 can be an economical shortcut to creating bigger calculating power,” says Frede Blaaberg from the University of Aalborg.
Foto: Ing.dk, Torben Klint
