FlashMob 1 - Page 4

Big Iron is good at both. But a lot of the cost of Big Iron goes into the networking, so to put Big Iron to work on Shrek is a waste of a lot of expensive networking equipment. So they're generally not used this way. Big Iron really shines in problems analogous to the Billiard Balls (like modeling the weather or how air flows around a jet fighter's wings, or how far a nuclear mushroom cloud will billow given the winds.)

Grid Computers are very good for problems like Shrek, but not so good for Billiard Ball type problems simply because the worst computer on a grid computer is usually pretty bad and nodes on a grid fail often so there's lots of waiting and lots of redos.

FlashMob computers have an advantage over Big Iron in that they are inexpensive and an advantage over grid computers in that they can solve Billiard Ball type problems. Unlike big iron, FlashMob computers can be sized to fit the problem at hand by adding more or fewer nodes. FlashMob Computing nodes are also dedicated to the problem at hand, so individual nodes are much more reliable than grid computer nodes.

Amazing and the ramifications are dramatic, namely that the barriers to entry for tackling supercomputer- related questions are greatly reduced.

Page 1Page 2Page 3 — Page 4

Article tags

Spread the word
Bookmark and Share
Profile image for eric-olsen

Article Author: Eric Olsen

Career media professional Eric Olsen is honored to be the founder and former publisher of Blogcritics.org, and former publisher of Technorati.com, which both rule. He is now editor, co-founder, and CEO of The Morton Report.

Visit Eric Olsen's author pageEric Olsen's Blog

Read comments on this article, and add some feedback of your own
  • No image found

Article comments

Add your comment, speak your mind

Personal attacks are NOT allowed.
Please read our comment policy.
Please preview your comment.

blogcritics lists for May 28, 2012

fresh articles Most recent articles site-wide

fresh comments Most recent comments site-wide

most comments Most comments in 24hrs

top writers Most prolific Blogcritics for April

top commenters Most prolific Commenters in 24 hrs