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A long time ago, I interned for ENA (Education Networks of America). During one summer, it occurred to me that ENA was on a goldmine when it came to Distributed Computing. ENA was responsible for 144K teachers and even more computers across the state’s educational network. During the day, 8AM to 3PM, the computers were used for curriculum education. But at night… they simply sat idle. I suggested they harness that power for Distributed Computing initiatives.

The entire practice of Distributed Computer was pretty new. SETI (see links below) was a popular screen saver that many techies had, but few really understood how the model worked. As I read more about potentials of distributed computing, I did small business plan on how to ‘rent’ the distributed computing network of the state of TN. Not only would it be cutting edge technology, it could also generate some extra revenue – possibly opening the door for Venture Capital.

I presented the plan to the executives, and even gave a ‘worst case scenario’ on earnings. The numbers were appealing (predicated on the fact that we could have the technology to effectively use the network), but the executives couldn’t grasp the concept. In fact, I remember them specifically wondering ‘does this really work’ and ‘would it even be worth it if it did’. I had to let the issue die, but I’ve kept up with the Distributed Computing initiatives.

The number of viable projects has grown significantly – and the viability is high enough now that several companies have received multi-million dollar fundings to continue with the concept. What I find most interesting is all of these ideas rely on the ‘good will’ of people to download the plug-in and let their computer be used. ENA, in contrast, already had 100K+ computers ready to go to work.

Here are some great links if you’re interested in Distributed Computing Initiatives:

Great article:
http://www.freep.com/news/nw/science22e_20050422.htm

Great uses:
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu – Perhaps the most popular (and one of the oldest) distributed computing projects, SETI@Home analyzes signals from space for signs of life.

http://www.grub.org – Distributed computing project focused on ‘indexing’ the web similar to search engines such as Google, etc.

http://www.distributed.net – Using the power of distributed computing on two projects: One is to crack (legally) data encryption schemes… the other is related to mathematics and ‘Golomb Ruler’.

http://www.chessbrain.net- Seeks to create a massive chess playing computer by utilizing the idle processing power of networked machines.” This project is an experiment “to allow Internet-connected computers to work together to play a game of chess.”

http://us.moneybee.net – Innovative project that combines neural networks with Distributed computing to more accurately forecast stock performance.

http://climateprediction.net – This project uses home-computing power to help analyze trillions of bits of data to improve the accuracy of scientific models of the atmosphere.

http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu – Initiative that tries to find evidence for Einstein’s theory of gravity waves, got started in February, and already reports about 50,000 participants.

http://folding.stanford.edu – Similar to Predictor@Home, this program studies the myriad ways that proteins, the building blocks of all living things, can fold into complex shapes that determine their function.

http://predictor.scripps.edu – Similar to Folding@Home, this program studies the myriad ways that proteins, the building blocks of all living things, can fold into complex shapes that determine their function.

http://lhcathome.cern.ch – LHC@Home: Large Hadron Collider, is a huge underground atomic-particle accelerator that’s nearing completion in Geneva, Switzerland. Home computers simulate how the microscopic particles will travel through a 17-mile-long circular tunnel.

Other links of interest:
http://toolbar.google.com/dc/offerdc.html – Google builds distributed computing support into their Google Toolbar, with the first benefactor the Folding@Home project (see above)

http://distributedcomputing.info/projects.html – The most comprehensive list of Distributed Computing projects I could find.