IBM, Harvard to Develop University-Wide Compute Grid For Life Science Research

NEW YORK, Dec. 17 (GenomeWeb News) - IBM is establishing a university-wide computing grid at Harvard for collaborative research in life science, engineering, and applied science, the organizations said today.

This "Crimson Grid" will be developed in a collaborative manner, in which the parties will develop and pre-test tools and protocols that are based on open standarts. The idea is to pioneer a system that will allow students and researchers at numerous academic institutions to take advantage of grid computing.

"A grid could potentially provide the tools to solve any type problem, from a complex literature search to mining the genome," Jayanta Sircar, CIO and IT Director of Harvard's Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Principal Investigator for the project said in a statement. "Harvard's goal is to help create an 'out-of-the-box' implementation of grid computing that will enable students throughout the region to leverage commonly shared resources for collaborative research and knowledge sharing."

IBM will provide Harvard with eServer pSeries and BladeCenter servers to power the grid. The DEAS IT group and scientists at IBM's Cambridge laboratory will build the grid's core development environment, the parties said.