PC grid computing is based on the idea that the unused computational
power of desktop PCs can be harnessed to create an aggregate
computational resource greater than the largest clusters and
the most powerful supercomputers available - at a fraction of
the cost. PC grids are appealing because of their ability to
provide enterprises with more than enough computing power to
solve previously unsolvable problems, while at the same time
offering a full return on their existing IT investments. Organizations
choose PC grids because they offer distinct advantages over
alternative solutions.
PCs are more powerful than ever before. Remarkably, GartnerGroup
research tells us over 95% of today's PC power is wasted; between
mouse-clicks, keystrokes, and spikes of routine application
program activity, the average PC sits idle. Distributed computing
technology provides the means to harness these valuable unused
CPU cycles to create an aggregate computational resource known
as a PC grid. Computationally intensive calculations that might
otherwise take months to solve on a cluster or supercomputer
can now be solved in hours or days on a PC grid. Even more exciting,
PC grids open doors to new computing challenges never before
considered possible.
Korea@Home is a distributed computing project which searchs
new drug candidates. We use novel computational methods and
large scale distributed computing, to simulate timescales thousands
to millions of times longer than previously acheived. This has
allowed us to screen chemicals in silico, and to now direct
our approach to drug targets.