Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Nuclear Research (CERN) will produce enough data in a single second to
occupy the memory capacity of six million ENIAC machines. Given the expo-
nential rise in data output and scientifi c networking, it is clear that enormous
strain will be put upon current hardware and communication infrastructures
in the very near future. Modern computers are themselves based on processors
that have reached the maximum speed at which surplus heat can be effi ciently
removed. The solution for increasing performance is to turn computers into
massively parallel processing machines, as either purpose-built supercomput-
ers or relatively inexpensive PC clusters. A further development lies in the
form of cloud computing, in which all data processing is undertaken not by
individual PCs but by remote networks. A good analogy is that of the replace-
ment of individual power generators by an electricity grid. Electricity thus
became a utility in the nineteenth century and computing has moved this way
in the twenty-fi rst century [16]. Computing grids for scientifi c collaboration
are being established by consortia such as The Enabling Grids for e-Science
project (EGEE) originating from CERN ( http://www.eu - egee.org/ ). Quoting
from its website: “The Production Service infrastructure is a large multi-
science Grid infrastructure, federating some 250 resource centres world-wide,
providing some 40,000 CPUs and several Petabytes of storage. This infrastruc-
ture is used on a daily basis by several thousands of scientists federated in over
200 Virtual Organizations on a daily basis.”
While the above specifi cations are impressive, these organisations depend
upon the reliable performance of an Internet that is reaching saturation.
Broadband transmission speeds across networks vary signifi cantly according
to the physical nature of the links, be they fi ber-optic cable, wireless transmis-
sion, or copper phone lines. While construction of fast fi ber-optic links is being
undertaken across the world, there are still limitations in the way the Internet
itself operates. This is in large part due to the equal weight given to data packets
regardless of importance, a legacy of the communication protocols [Transmission
Control Protocol Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) system] devised by the Internet's
founders. Given that current Internet bandwidth is reaching saturation, new
approaches to data transfer and management are called for. Some ideas about
how to achieve this have been highlighted in a recent article [17].
10.4
LIFE SCIENCES AND THE INTERNET
Three important aspects of electronic collaboration for life sciences and medi-
cine are discussed below.
10.4.1
Bioinformatics
Online analysis of nucleotide and amino acid sequence data is now decades
old and is a major part of the bioinformatics enterprise. The storage and
curation of the data is the responsibility of the International Nucleotide
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