World's largest computing grid lives to go live

Contrary to popular belief, the world as we know it didn't implode after the Large Hadron Collider was flipped on. Sure -- someone, somewhere is growing a ninth arm and trying desperately to land a cameo on Fringe, but the planet at large is still humming along just fine. Now, the world's most ginormous computing grid (the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid, or WLCG) has gone live, and the gurus behind it are celebrating the beginning of its momentous data challenge: to analyze and manage over 15 million gigabytes of data each year. The Grid combines the IT power of over 140 computer centers, 100,000 processors and the collaborative efforts of 33 countries. Unfortunately, there's no word on when the official WLCG-based Call of Duty 4 server will be green-lit for action, but we hear it's pretty high on the priorities list.

[Via China View]

[Patriks7 @ Oct 6th 2008 1:28AM]

I'm kinda lost.. can someone explain to me what this exactly does?

[who? @ Oct 6th 2008 1:35AM]

It makes the news... And apparently, computes!

[Jon Nelson @ Oct 6th 2008 1:39AM]

It plays Crysis, it blends, and it will be our new robotic overlord. It's great at multitasking.

Sorry folks, couldn't help myself.

In any case, according to the original article, it sifts through all the data that the LHC provides. 15 million gigs of data per year.

[Benson @ Oct 6th 2008 3:01AM]

Yeah, but what does it do in Soviet Russia?

[Jon Nelson @ Oct 6th 2008 4:08AM]

@ Benson

Crap! I KNEW I forgot one!

[j_g_puff @ Oct 6th 2008 4:53AM]

It plays a game called 'Thermonuclear War'.

[loosely_coupled @ Oct 6th 2008 5:06AM]

It's basically a huge, worldwide scientific data distribution network. It's purpose is to organize, aggregate, and distribute all of the experimental data that the LHC captures during the particle collisions. The data gets sent to all the participating universities and national laboratories so scientists around the world can analyze and interpret it without actually having to be in Geneva. The amount of data being sent around over the fiber optic lines is staggering...

[thedesolate1 @ Oct 6th 2008 7:21PM]

It helps Skynet become THAT much closer to being self aware and gives it the power to create Nuclear Holocaust followed by creating a black hole to clean up whatever human life is left.

[k3nt @ Oct 6th 2008 1:37AM]

Hmmmm very interesting, I am probably gonna start doing this instead of the SETI@home
Here is the link if you all want it

http://lhcathome.cern.ch/

[blizz419 @ Oct 6th 2008 7:26AM]

dead link

[GoVegan @ Oct 6th 2008 7:42AM]

Hmmmm, tough choice spend CPU cycles looking for ET or play part in creating the first/last black hole in this solar system. ;)

Actually I gave up on SETI about 8 years ago, decided it's best to put my 16Ghz worth of computing performance (at home) to sleep or power off when not in use and save unnecessary wasted electricity (and money).

I also happen to think that the LHC is a bit of a waste of money too.

[selfdestruct @ Oct 6th 2008 1:48AM]

That is a hell of a lot of computers, what if you have to reboot?

[Rogue_Genius @ Oct 6th 2008 12:18PM]

"The program you are using has experience a fatal error and needs to close. "
"Exception at line ---."
S"tack buffer overflow. "

And then the world ends.

[Andrew @ Oct 6th 2008 1:39AM]

What no Halo?

[StalematE @ Oct 6th 2008 1:40AM]

is this like the screensavers that decode the human genome or find life on other planets thing? because if my screensaver can help us all get sucked into a black hole... i'm so down for that... i have bills i don't want to pay...

[Wulile @ Oct 6th 2008 1:41AM]

For the longest time I referred to it as the Large Hardon Collider... and nobody corrected me.

[Patriks7 @ Oct 6th 2008 2:09AM]

Haha! With such a name it is inevitable that some people will :p
Including me! xD

[nerdtalker @ Oct 6th 2008 2:12AM]

A lot of other people did too, in a lot of scholarly articles, and nobody corrected _them_ either: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Large+Hardon+Collider&hl=en&lr=&btnG=Search

Perhaps that's because it's inherently lulz-worthy?

[ColonelSmith @ Oct 19th 2008 10:07AM]

http://largehardoncollider.com/

[KennedySignal @ Nov 12th 2008 11:42AM]

Is that.... Lady Elaine Fairchild?!?

[feffrey @ Oct 6th 2008 1:46AM]

inb4: can it play Crysis?

[Paul Fehr @ Oct 6th 2008 1:54AM]

No, it is not in before someone mentions Crysis, and go back to /b/.

[sip @ Oct 6th 2008 2:00AM]

For some reason I couldn't stop drooling when reading this post...

[Jason @ Oct 6th 2008 10:22AM]

@ SIP: The post about the Large Hardon?

[mayq @ Oct 6th 2008 2:03AM]

I thought it broke and they haven't yet started manufacturing black holes..

[Rebel6381 @ Oct 6th 2008 8:48AM]

It did break and it will hopefully be operational again next spring. This article refers to the grid computing that will be used to caputre all of the data that will come from the LHC.

[mayq @ Oct 6th 2008 8:46PM]

"Contrary to popular belief, the world as we know it didn't implode after the Large Hadron Collider was flipped on."

first sentence...

[oogabooga @ Oct 6th 2008 4:06PM]

LOL... the birth of skynet as we know it...and we'll see what it'll choose between CoD4 or Crysis.. or even Both...Let our computing lords show us the way ;-)

[CJ ADAP @ Oct 6th 2008 2:16AM]

oh god where my tinfoil helmet?

[kettch @ Oct 6th 2008 2:28AM]

That guy looks like Jonathan Frakes. Coincidence? hmmm.....

Save us Riker!

[Jon @ Oct 6th 2008 5:20AM]

Take us out commander.

Engage!

[GaryZ @ Oct 6th 2008 2:48AM]

better make sure that grid is not doing any side jobs on its self-awareness... but we all know that's inevitable... Skynet FTW!!!

[The Police @ Oct 6th 2008 2:59AM]

Skynet Activated.

[Benson @ Oct 6th 2008 3:04AM]

Hey engadget, we're all geeks here, so it's ok to use big words like petabyte.

In fact, I'm taking advantage of this as a good _excuse_ to say petabyte; I just might go around saying "15 petabytes" all day just to annoy inferior lifeforms who don't know SI prefixes.

[HunterXI @ Oct 6th 2008 11:21AM]

You mean Pebibyte, Benson?

Watch your wording when preaching SI to others. :)

[Simon @ Oct 6th 2008 7:34PM]

@ hunterXI - you are so wrong. i am a grade 11 student, and we just did a bunch of stuff using SI prefixes, and i have a sheet in front of me right now that says "petabyte" in large letters. its petabyte.

[Moofree @ Oct 7th 2008 6:25PM]

The question is is a petabyte 1000000000000000 bytes or 1125899906842624 bytes??
It can be either depending on who you ask.

[richard @ Oct 6th 2008 3:13AM]

hmmm XP?

[willj @ Oct 6th 2008 3:34AM]

So let me get this straight, the LHC is creating black holes and activating skynet?

[AustraliaAAC @ Oct 7th 2008 5:39AM]

Its also developing a bio-fuel made out of cute little puppy dogs

Death to the puppy dogs!

[digitallysick @ Oct 6th 2008 3:56AM]

Once the grid goes live it should have enough power to run vista

[ioTus @ Oct 6th 2008 4:16AM]

Not only black holes and Skynet, but also the end-all collective database for all Big Foot sightings.

The advanced computing network sifts through information submitted by eye-witnesses and cross-analyzes each bit of data, comparing it to the rest. By this, they will be able to triangulate, with exactitude, where Big Foot is currently standing.

It also read your gmail account.

[dogzy @ Oct 6th 2008 4:27AM]

Finally, vista runs smoothly.

[Brad @ Oct 6th 2008 4:38AM]

Oh come on guys! I think we all know that all those computers are really trying to unlock an iPhone 3G!

[vadubgeek @ Oct 6th 2008 5:03AM]

Skynet?

[Fundi @ Oct 6th 2008 6:57AM]

Watch some terminator films.

[Rogue_Genius @ Oct 6th 2008 1:09PM]

I could be giving vadu too much credit, but I think that question was to be read as "skynet, is that you?" as opposed to "what is a skynet?" I think vadu knows was skynet is. But I could be wrong. It does happen. Rarely. :D

[Rykaro @ Oct 6th 2008 5:27AM]

Ahh but does it knit socks and make a decent cup of tea?

[CongoZombie @ Oct 6th 2008 8:34AM]

Something almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.

[Michael Bailey @ Oct 6th 2008 5:51AM]

You SAY the world as we know it hasn't ended, but how do you know we aren't all just stuck in a year-long time loop? I could have SWORN I already posted this comment, like - a dozen times...