atom-smashing supercomputing

(From an article I posted on my website)

In early September, journalists from around Europe gathered in the UK to see the world’s fastest and largest network in action. The Large Hudson Collider (LHC) Computing Grid will be used to process data collected from subatomic experiments that will be conducted at CERN’s underground laboratory in Switzerland. Because of the nature of the experiments, the amount of data generated is going to be immense: 10 petabytes (over a million gigabytes) of useful data every year. As a solution to this data processing challenge, scientists adapted a form of distributed processing (similar to that used in SETI@home) and created a ‘grid computing’-based model for remote supercomputing. More than 6000 computers at 78 sites around the world will process results from the CERN experiments. By 2007, when experiments start, the ‘Grid’ will be the equivalent of 100000 of the fastest computers in the world today. Already, the scientists involved have set a new world record speed for the transfer of data: they sent a terabyte of data across 7000 kilometres in less than half an hour (at an average of 5.44 gigabits a second).

LINKS:
Part and particle of the super Grid
The God Particle and the Grid
LHC Computing Grid Goes Online
Grid Goes Live
Internet speed record set