IBM Brings Grid Computing to Food Crisis

By Greg McNevin

June 10, 2008: Cloud computing is working wonders in the world of medical research and astronomy, and as more computing power comes online IBM is working to open the power of the grid to humanitarian causes such as the food crisis.

The IBM World Community Grid “Supercomputer” is bringing together one million registered devices to complete research projects, such as the development of stronger strains of rice that could produce crops with larger and more nutritious yields, in two years rather than 200.

Called Nutritious Rice for the World, IBM says the project will study rice at the atomic level and then combine it with traditional cross breeding techniques used by farmers throughout history. The project will result in the creation of the largest and most comprehensive map of rice proteins and their related functions, helping agriculturalists and farmers pinpoint which plants should be selected for cross-breeding to cultivate better crops.

By harnessing the unused and donated power from over a million personal computers around the world, the project has a processing power of 167 teraflops. This is equivalent to the world’s top three supercomputers.

“The issue is that there are between 30,000 and 60,000 different protein structures to study,” said Principal Investigator, Dr. Ram Samudrala, Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Washington. “Using traditional experimental approaches in the laboratory to identify detailed structure and function of critical proteins would take decades. Running our software program on World Community Grid will shorten the time from 200 years to less than 2 years.”

“This project could ultimately help farmers around the world plant better crops and stave off hunger for some,” said Robin Willner, Vice President, Global Community Initiatives, IBM. “People who want to be a part of something big can take a small step today by donating their unused computer time. Volunteers can personally effect how quickly this research is completed and can make a significant difference for farmers and people in great need.”

Each week, thousands of people sign on to this project that has significantly advanced several research projects on diseases like cancer and AIDS. The nutritious rice project is the latest to utilise the grid, and could have a major impact on global health. More information can be found on www.worldcommunitygrid.org.

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