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Thread: More Publicity for WCG |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
There is a new article about the World Community Grid in the 6 May 2005 issue of AAAS Science at http://www.sciencemag.org/content/current/
----------------------------------------Unfortunately only subscribers are allowed to read the article, but members at a university that subscribes can read the article. Here it is -- COMPUTING: IBM Offers Free Number Crunching for Humanitarian Research Projects Daniel Clery CAMBRIDGE, U.K.--When researchers have a project that involves a lot of number crunching, they usually have to think small. They compress data and algorithms to make the best use of expensive computer time. Now the computer giant IBM is offering researchers who meet certain criteria a chance to do the opposite: to think big--supercomputer big--and it will provide access to the computing power for free. The company's philanthropic arm has launched an effort known as World Community Grid (WCG) to support research projects with humanitarian goals. "We aim to take the most cutting-edge technologies and use them in the public interest," says Stanley Litow, president of the IBM International Foundation. The computing power comes courtesy of many thousands of ordinary computer users around the world who freely donate their computers to a project at times when they would otherwise sit idle. Linked by the Internet, the grid gains power as it accumulates machines. Last month WCG signed up its 100,000th computer. WCG uses the same technique as projects such as SETI@home and ClimatePrediction.net, which install a screen saver on computers to sift radio signals for extraterrestrial messages or model climate change (see p. 810). The difference is that WCG has a permanent infrastructure and can run five or six projects at once. IBM created the open grid because "we found that a lot of projects were dying on the vine in the absence of computing power," says Litow. (Image omitted) Group effort. Small computers are being linked in huge networks to analyze protein folding and other puzzles. CREDIT: WORLD COMMUNITY GRID WCG is not the first grid freely available to researchers. The company United Devices in Austin, Texas, which creates similar links for the pharmaceutical, oil, and financial industries, set up Grid.org in 2001 and has since signed up more than 3 million machines. Grid.org's first project was to scan 3.5 billion molecules for potential as drugs against cancer. Chemist Graham Richards of Oxford University in the U.K., who led the effort, says participants "employed more computing power than the whole world pharmaceutical industry" can bring to bear on such problems. Richards says the project found lots of promising molecules and is now embarking on the more painstaking process of synthesizing the molecules and testing them in vitro. The Oxford team also used Grid.org to search for drugs against anthrax and, in collaboration with IBM, smallpox--a project that screened 35 million potential drug molecules to find 44 strong candidates in a matter of weeks. "The smallpox experiment was such a success," says Viktors Berstis, IBM's technical head of WCG, that IBM decided to set up its own grid. WCG was launched in November 2004, with help from United Devices, and its first task was the Human Proteome Folding Project. Devised by researchers at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, Washington, the folding project predicts structures for the thousands of protein sequences uncovered by the Human Genome Project. At a symposium in Seattle last week, the institute announced that the project had already calculated 50,000 structures. Its goal--100,000 to 150,000 structures--would take 100,000 years to complete if the institute relied on its own computing power. Interested researchers can propose projects at www.worldcommunitygrid.org, and IBM has assembled a high-powered advisory board, including David Baltimore, president of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, and Ligia Elizondo, deputy director of the United Nations Development Programme, to sift through the proposals. The board is meeting this week and hopes to have a first slate of new projects in a few months. Berstis says he hopes eventually to sign up as many as 10 million computers. "Most researchers haven't even thought of this kind of massive computing power," he says. It's time to think big. [Edit 1 times, last edit by Former Member at May 6, 2005 1:49:14 AM] |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Hurray!! The ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) is a new partner. I wonder if the IEEE Computer Society will take notice?
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
I laud IBM's goal of a 10 million computer grid. God only knows what that kind of power can accomplish.
The most pressing need seems to be drug discovery computations. Especially thos dealing with aids and cancer. This is also the most popular issue among the public and would bring in alot of new members. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
bbover3 reports another mention of the World Community Grid in a newsletter: http://www.interactions.org/sgtw/
Human Proteome Folding Project Running on World Community Grid (image omitted) Rosetta prediction for a human protein structure. Courtesy of the Institute for Systems Biology. The Human Proteome Folding Project is halfway to its goal of predicting the three- dimensional structures of 100,000- 150,000 proteins, including some of the most important molecules in living organisms. The Institute for Systems Biology project has predicted 50,000 protein structures in six months using computing power donated by members of the World Community Grid. The structure of a protein determines its role in living organisms. Genes specify the code for a specific chain of amino acids that folds into a three-dimensional shape to form a protein. Once an organism's genome is sequenced, a vital next step for scientists is to predict or experimentally determine the structures of the resulting proteins—no easy feat. "Once you've figured out which parts of a genome make proteins, the next step is to assign a function to each protein—figure out what each gene does," explained ISB's Richard Bonneau, lead scientist for the project. "We are using the Rosetta program to predict the folded structure of proteins from a representative set of genomes from every evolutionary branch of life." Proteins from over 60 complete genomes are being studied by the project, including those from the genomes of humans, yeast and plasmodium, the parasite that causes malaria. The large number of proteins combined with the large amount of time it takes a computer to search through all possible folds for a single protein requires a huge amount of computing power. "Each amino acid in a protein is connected to two others, and each of those bonds can rotate in many ways, each rotation changing the structure of the protein," said Bonneau. "This project, which will now be completed in less than a year, would have taken 100 years to complete using only ISB resources." The World Community Grid is an IBM-funded project that taps into the unused computational power of idle computers and directs it for humanitarian efforts. Since November of 2004 over 8,500 years of run time on over 100,000 computers have been donated by over 65,000 members. Learn more at the Institute for Systems Biology and World Community Grid Web sites. —Katie Yurkewicz |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Here is a press release on AScribe Newswire at http://newswire.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl...mp;year=2005&public=0
Tue May 24 09:29:42 2005 Pacific Time Association for Computing Machinery Joins World Community Grid; Grid Donates 10,000 Years of Run Time to Humanitarian Effort ARMONK, N.Y., May 24 (AScribe Newswire) -- The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) today joins IBM's World Community Grid, which is destined to be the largest technology humanitarian effort ever launched. ACM will encourage its 80,000 members worldwide to donate their idle computing time to World Community Grid in an effort to find answers to some of the world's most challenging problems through unparalleled computational research provided by IBM. World Community Grid (http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org) is harnessing the unused computer power of the world's computers and directing it to efforts that will help society. In six months, World Community Grid has donated 10,000 years of computer run time to scientific research through the more than 106,000 personal and business computers that have joined this effort. As a result, the Human Proteome Folding Project, World Community Grid's first research initiative, is more than 60 percent complete. According to the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB), which is sponsoring the project, World Community Grid will complete the Human Proteome Folding Project in less than a year; with ISB's current computational power, the research would have taken more than 100,000 years to finish. The project will provide scientists with information on how individual proteins behave within the human body, providing important clues to the development of cures for human disease. "We are very excited and proud to welcome the Association for Computing Machinery as a partner to World Community Grid, which has an outstanding reputation in the international scientific and education communities" said Stanley Litow, vice president, IBM Corporate Community Relations, and president, IBM International Foundation. "The organization has the potential to double our membership and in turn double the power that World Community Grid has to work on projects that help humanity. We applaud ACM's commitment to join this effort and welcome other organizations to join this effort." The Association for Computing Machinery, based in New York City, is a global organization dedicated to advancing computing as a science and a profession. ACM will encourage its 80,000 members in more than 100 countries to register their PCs and laptops to this humanitarian effort. "World Community Grid provides a unique technology solution to some pressing global problems," said David A. Patterson, ACM president. "We are asking our members all over the world to join with us in this innovative initiative to improve the lives of our member communities." Grid computing is a rapidly emerging technology that can bring together the collective power of thousands or millions of individual computers to create a giant "virtual" system with massive computational strength. With more than 650 million PCs in use around the world, World Community Grid is working to create the world's largest grid solely for humanitarian purposes - in essence a virtual supercomputer for good works. World Community Grid has the capacity to run five to six projects a year for public and not-for-profit organizations. Research results will be made available to the world research community. Projects in the following disciplines will be considered: - Medical Research - Genomics, proteomics, epidemiology, and biological system research - Environmental Research - Ecology, climatology, pollution, and preservation - Basic Research - Human health and welfare related studies Researchers and scientists interested in having their work considered for use on World Community Grid can apply via a Request for Proposals at: http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/projects_showcase/submit_a_proposal.html . Individuals can volunteer their idle and unused computing power by downloading World Community Grid's free software and registering at http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org . - - - - CONTACTS: Virginia Gold, ACM, 212-626-0505, vgold@acm.org Lia Papa, IBM, 646-598-5409, lia.papa@us.ibm.com ABOUT IBM: IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. For more information about grid computing at IBM, visit http://www.ibm.com/grid. For more information on IBM's philanthropic efforts, visit http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ibmgives . ABOUT ACM: ACM (www.acm.org) is widely recognized as the premier organization for computing professionals, delivering resources that advance the computing and IT disciplines, enable professional development, and promote policies and research that benefit society. ACM hosts the computing industry's leading Digital Library and Guide to Computing Literature, and serves its 80,000 global members and the computing profession with journals and magazines, conferences, workshops, electronic forums, and its Career Resource Centre and Professional Development Centre. Media Contact: Virginia Gold, 212-626-0505, vgold@acm.org Lia Papa, IBM, 646-598-5409, lia.papa@us.ibm.com |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Here is a new article about the WCG in the Austin Business Journal: http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2005/07/18/focus1.html
Graham posted it in http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/forums/wcg/viewthread?thread=3392 so I will not duplicate his effort. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Here is an article that David Autumns found at http://www.techweb.com/wire/networking/169400798
August 19, 2005 (5:20 PM EDT) World Community Grid Performs 14,000 Years' Work in Nine Months By K.C. Jones, TechWeb News It would have taken a single PC more than 14,000 years to analyze the many ways human proteins can fold into shapes that promote, or interfere with, health. That analysis is 75 percent complete – in only nine months - thanks to the combined work of 133,673 computers. The World Community Grid announced last year that it would run research for the Human Proteome Folding Project. The project seeks to shed light on common diseases and possible cures by studying the way proteins function. The information is a crucial step in understanding and curing diseases like cancer, HIV, Alzheimer's and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Robin Willner, director of corporate community relations for IBM, said the first database will be available on the Internet by October. All of the material is expected to be posted by the end of the year. "It's not linear since we pick up new members everyday and finish the work faster," Willner said in an interview Friday. IBM donated hardware, software, technical services and expertise to support the grid, but anyone with Internet access can download a free and secure software program to donate power and time. The project runs in the background of PCs. It is similar to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence SETI. The Proteome Project is analyzing 20 types of amino acids that join together in various combinations to make up human proteins. Those proteins fold into different shapes, which scientists believe allow them to perform different functions that can promote, or interfere with, healthy cell function. For example, bacterial and viral proteins can fold into shapes that allow them to penetrate the cell membrane and infect the cell. There is a massive amount of data that can identify how the proteins function, but it's a daunting task to analyze all of the material. People who donate computer power to the Proteome Project can see snapshots of partially folded proteins as their computers work. The computer program, Rosetta, displays scores how well the protein is packed together. It also provides PC owners with information on whether a combination of amino acids is well-matched. The World Community Grid performs that process millions of times for each protein. Rosetta sends assignments and receives results over the Internet. Since it is ranked as the lowest priority on a computer, users don't have to worry about it interfering with other work, Willner said. Users can adjust the settings so the program only runs when a screen saver is on. Several universities, including Marist College, the State University of New York at New Paltz and the University of Kentucky are participating. Signs in campus computer labs encourage students to download the grid onto their personal computers. So far, 83,457 members have signed up, contributing to a system that IBM says may be among the 20 largest "computers" in the world. IBM plans to team up with other groups to continue the humanitarian work using as many of the world's 650 million underutilized PCs as possible. Some possible areas of study include: environmental research and climate control. "Our goal is to eventually have five or six projects running all at once," Willner said. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Yet another news article about the World Community Grid found by David Autumns at http://www.physorg.com/news5907.html
'Fold here,' say 130,000 computers August 19, 2005 It's already made computations equal to a single PC running continuously for more than 14,000 years. It has 83,000 human members and more than 130,000 machines. It may be among the 20 largest "computers" in the world. It's World Community Grid. Announced in November, World Community Grid is simple in concept: harness some of the unused computing power of the world's 650 million PCs. To join, anyone with Internet access simply downloads a secure, free, and small software program onto their laptop or home computer. Then with World Community Grid’s agent running in the background of each PC, the project applies massed computing power to math-intensive research that will unlock genetic codes underlying diseases such as cancer, HIV and Alzheimer's. It's a model similar to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), but with a more down to earth focus. As one headline writer put it: Forget aliens; cure malaria. Currently World Community Grid is running research for the Human Proteome Folding Project. Knowing the shapes of proteins will help researchers understand how proteins do the work they're supposed to and how diseases stop proteins from maintaining healthy cells. The versatile grid can also take aim at HIV and AIDS, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), malaria and other diseases. And grid applications can help researchers and scientists with earthquake warnings, improving crop yields and evaluating the supply of critical natural resources like water. The organization is accepting proposals for other research projects. IBM donated the hardware, software, technical services and expertise to build the infrastructure for World Community Grid and provides free hosting, maintenance and support. "We're taking IBM's innovative on demand grid technology - the same technology we share with customers - and applying it to humanitarian issues about which the world cares. We look forward to working with our employees, customers and the public to execute this exciting vision," said Stanley S. Litow, vice president of IBM Corporate Community Relations and president of the IBM International Foundation. World Community Grid also continues to build a network of dedicated partners who encourage their employees, members, students and faculty to join. Along with IBM, other partners include United Devices, Semiconductor Industry Association, United Way of New York City, the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College and Information Technology Association of Canada. You can join at http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Another post about the World Community grid that David Autumns found at http://www.volunteernorthtexas.org/VolunteerC.../World+Community+Grid.htm
World Community Grid CHANGE THE WORLD...WITH YOUR COMPUTER The Volunteer Center of North Texas Joins World Community Grid Millions of personal computers sit idly on desks and in homes worldwide. During this idle time, the mysteries of science and space continue to elude us. What if each of the world’s estimated 650 million PCs could be linked to focus on humanity’s most pressing issues? To make this vision a reality, The Volunteer Center of North Texas has become a partner of World Community Grid, joining the IBM Corporation and a group of leading associations, foundations, academic institutions and companies. The Volunteer Center is encouraging its members to contribute their idle PC time to World Community Grid at www.worldcommunitygrid.org. World Community Grid establishes a permanent, flexible infrastructure that provides researchers with a readily available pool of computational power that can be used to solve problems plaguing humanity. Importantly, World Community Grid is easy and safe to use. To join, members should go to www.worldcommunitygrid.org and simply download and install a free, small software program on their computers. When idle, your computers request data from World Community Grid’s server. Computers then perform computations using this data, send the results back to the server and prompt it for a new piece of work. The Volunteer Center is asking that members who join World Community Grid become a member of the Volunteer Center team. As part of the team, members will earn points as part of the association and as an individual. The Volunteer Center will publicize the points it earns as an association both internally and externally. World Community Grid will address global humanitarian issues, such as: • New and existing infectious disease research: Researching cures for HIV and AIDS, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), malaria and others. • Genomic and disease research: The Human Proteome Folding project—World Community Grid’s first project—seeks to help identify the functions of the proteins that are coded by human genes. • Natural disasters and hunger: World Community Grid applications can help researchers and scientists with earthquake predictions, improving crop yields and evaluating the supply of critical natural resources like water. What is grid technology? Grid technology joins together many individual computers, creating a large system with massive computational power that exceeds the power of a few supercomputers. This capability can be applied on a global scale to very large and complex problems for the benefit of humanity. The benefits are proven. In 2003, the IBM Corporation was one of the sponsors of a smallpox study that took advantage of grid computing. This study, using today’s largest available super computers, would have taken years to complete. With grid computing, this study was completed in less than six months and identified 45 potential smallpox-treatment candidates. IBM’s world class and open eServer and Storage products, built with IBM’s innovative and open Middleware products like WebSphere, DB2 and managed by Tivoli, serves as the technology behind grid computing. United Devices, the market leader in highly secure grid solutions for businesses of all sizes, developed the special software application that enables World Community Grid to operate. American Express and other leaders in the corporate community are partnering with World Community Grid and encouraging their employees to participate. Join World Community Grid as part of the Volunteer Center of North Texas team today! Please go to www.worldcommunitygrid.org. |
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MLCBA
Senior Cruncher Joined: Nov 30, 2004 Post Count: 225 Status: Offline |
Here are more news .
----------------------------------------http://channels.netscape.com/ns/pf/news_story...ew=&TickerSymbols=IBM We should expect more members to join soon.  |
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