James Delahunty
11 Apr 2007 5:55
Following the strong initial results from the PlayStation 3's (PS3) performance while taking part in the Stanford Folding@Home project, Sony has entered into talks about using the same techniques for commercial uses. The PS3's idle CPU cycles are used to calculate research for the Stanford University project. The overall goal is to understand protein folding, unlocking the mysteries behind life-threatening conditions.
However, the Financial Times has reported that Sony and several companies may be interested in using the same technique for commercial purposes. "We are discussing various options with companies and exploring commercial applications," said Sony's chief technology officer, Masa Chatani. It is estimated that, on average, 10,000 PS3s working in a distributed computing network can match the performance of 200,000 PCs (of course, PC equipment varies considerably so take these figures with a pinch of salt).
"A start-up or a pharmaceutical company that lacks a super-computer could utilize this kind of infrastructure," said Chatani. Of course, Sony would need to come up with some form of incentive for PS3 users to be involved with any commercial distributing-computing project. Maybe finding out how to cure Alzheimer's disease and other conditions that affect millions of people served as incentive enough for 30,000 PlayStation 3 users to sign up for Folding@Home.
Source:
GamesIndustry.biz