The Computer Corner
A new grid dawning
By Charles Miller

A news article I read recently in the London Times announced the creation of “The Grid,” a network made up of a hundred thousand computers. The creators describe it as a new dawn for the internet.

The concept is not new, but the implementation is. This network of 100,000 is connected via fiber optics and has the capacity to crunch complex mathematical tasks in a fraction of the time required previously. Tasks that took hours will now take seconds.

The Grid creates the greatest data processing capacity ever available and was created to cope with information pouring from LHC. More on that later.

I said the concept is not new, and it is not. The SETI@home project is a scientific experiment that uses your home computer in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). More than a million home computer users have participated by running a free program that downloads and analyzes radiotelescope data.


The program takes the form of a screen saver but is a complicated piece of scientific analytical software. When the screen saver kicks in, that signals that you are not there using your computer and so the SETI@home program may begin using the idle power of your computer. It performs a large set of mathematical operations on data downloaded from the Berkeley SETI program.

In simple terms, the researchers at Berkeley send out the identical mathematical problem to thousands of computers. When they get back the results, they collate them and determine whether the answers concur. This gives the researchers access to quite a bit of redundancy. If, for example, they send the calculation to a thousand computers and receive back 999 answers that are the same, then it is relatively safe to assume the answer is correct and they move on to the next calculation.

The mathematical calculations taking place are designed to separate static and background noise from patterns that might be communications from some distant intelligent species. Nothing has turned up yet, but the radiotelescopes are still listening.

The screen saver is interesting to look at, and it is more interesting to realize your home computer could be one of the ones that discovers intelligent life somewhere “out there.” If you are interested in participating, you can download the SETI@home screensaver from http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/.

Back to The Grid: it is now ready to be connected to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Scientists at CERN, the European Organization of Nuclear Scientists, created The Grid because they realized that a single computer would not be able to cope with the amount of data the LHC is expected to produce each year. The LHC is expected to generate upwards of 15 petabytes, or enough data to fill 20 million CDs.


The uses to which The Grid might be put extend well beyond particle physics, and it has been used on a smaller scale in medical research already. Thousands of computer simulations can be run in a short time to create a short list of the drugs or techniques that are most likely to be promising. This input will help doctors and laboratory researchers focus their efforts.

The Grid has also already been used to save lives. With seismic data, scientists can use The Grid to run simulations that pinpoint the locations where earthquake damage is likely to be concentrated. This has allowed rescue teams to direct their efforts where they are most needed.

Charles Miller is a freelance computer consultant, a frequent visitor to San Miguel since 1981 and now practically a full-time resident. He may be contacted at 044-415-101-8528 or email FAQ8 (at) SMAguru.com.