INDUSTRY

The past 35 years have been nothing short of a technology revolution. Innovation and discovery have been fueled by the ever-increasing processing power of computers. The processing power contained in today's laptop computers is many times greater than that which allowed Apollo 11 to land on the moon. In fact, processors have doubled in power every 18 months or so -- an observation that has become known as Moore's Law -- all while getting smaller and smaller, helping to fuel the growth of just about every industry. Where will the future of computing take us? What type of processor will power these machines? In fact, many believe that Moore's Law is approaching its limits: that due to heat generated by today's small transistors, processors cannot get any smaller. But our economy has come to depend on the increases in processing power that Moore's Law has brought. Will computing see a fundamental paradigm shift in order to sustain growth? One solution might be to string processors together rather than make individual processors more powerful. This concept, known as parallel processing, is not new. "The idea of connecting multiple computers to increase processing power has been around for quite some time," said Scott Smith, chief executive officer of Massively Parallel Technologies. "Many have tried to accomplish this task but to date parallel processing has not lived up to its promise." For years, the performance gain experienced from connecting multiple computers was thought to have a limit. In 1967 Gene Amdahl, widely recognized as one of the fathers of parallel processing, claimed that in parallelization there are issues that will eventually place an upper limit on the maximal speed of the system, therefore mitigating much of the benefits of parallelization. This became known as Amdahl's Law and it has limited parallel processing's appeal as a commercially viable solution. "I have been working in the computer industry for decades and I have yet to see a solution to Amdahl's Law," said Amdahl. "By solving the problems associated with parallelization, the possibilities for this technology are limitless." A group of innovators in a small office in Colorado think they have found the answer to the processing problem. Massively Parallel Technologies has developed a new technology that can be used to build faster and more efficient high performance computers and looks to deliver high-powered computing via the Internet through what they call Virtual Power Centers. Virtual Power Centers will introduce a new generation of real-time interactive programs, delivering unprecedented power and dizzying new capabilities for everything from mathematical modeling to playing video games. "What I have seen from Massively Parallel shows me that parallel processing will lead the way in future computer development," said Amdahl. "With their discovery, they can bring the power of supercomputers to everyone and obviate the problems associated with the limits of Moore's Law." The future of computing, and business in general, is linked to the processing power of tomorrow's computers. But where will this processing power come from? How will it be delivered? If processing power is delivered across a network instead of residing on one's personal machine, what will the computers of the future look like? Could the cell phone of today become tomorrow's supercomputer? Massively Parallel Technologies (MPT), a Colorado-based company, delivers high-performance computing through Virtual Power Centers, Internet-based hubs designed for specific computationally intense applications. Powered by HOWARD, MPT's revolutionary system design and software solution provides the fastest possible communication between multiple processors. MPT's Virtual Power Centers can outperform most mainframes and supercomputers for a fraction of the cost. For additional information on Massively Parallel Technologies' products and services, call (303) 926-8555 or visit its Web site at www.massivelyparallel.com.