PROCESSORS

By ANGELA SIMONEAUX, asimoneaux@theadvocate.com -- The idea is virtual supercomputing. A supercomputer, which is capable of solving extremely complex problems or making sense of extremely large amounts of data, can cost millions to construct. But with the right software, regular old computers can be linked together, pool their hard drives and processing power, and create a "virtual" supercomputer that can accomplish almost the same tasks. For example, last year the University of Alberta linked 1,400 Canadian computers and solved in 24 hours a chemistry problem that would have taken a desktop PC more than six months to complete. Usually, the linked computers belong to people in a certain peer group. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette is currently setting one up, connecting campus and researchers' computers. But the Louisiana spin is the linking of a geographical community -- in this case Lafayette. Over the past three weeks, a group of technology-oriented people have brainstormed the concept of the Acadiana Virtual Supercom-puter. "The way we're looking at it, this is technology pulling together a community," said Doug Menefee of MenefeeInsight. "It's a philosophical approach, bringing together a community as a whole to complete a project. "We will have incredible power, as a community, to do things." The way the project works is fairly simple, explained Patrick Landry, senior system administrator at ULL's Center for Advanced Computer Studies. There is a grid computer system, basically a network of servers, in a central location. All the computers that are members of the virtual supercomputer talk to that grid via the Internet, Landry explained. Each member computer downloads a screensaver program. Via that program and the Internet, the computer receives from the grid system a piece of a problem to work on, he said. Whenever the member computer is idle, but still turned on, it works on that problem. When it is finished, it sends its answers back to the grid system, Landry said. The players are the Lafayette Economic Development Authority, the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce and ULL. It is hoped that the Lafayette Parish School Board, Lafayette City-Parish government and people in the community also will participate. Sun Microsystems already has donated the hardware needed for the grid system, and ULL is working on the software. It is hoped that the project will be up and running in six months. "This group has been really busy," Menefee said. "We have a massive amount of people working together for the cause on this. There's not a lot of ego tied to it. It's new, innovative and unique." Mike Spears of Firefly Digital said the group is attracting some of Lafayette's best innovators -- its entrepreneurs. "This has the small businesses at its core," Spears said. "We are a city of small businesses. We're small, nimble and creative. By working together, we magnify our strengths. And when you plug the university into that, you create incredible opportunities." Most of the projects that the Acadiana Virtual Supercomputer works on probably will be public-sector projects, Menefee said. One of the first recipients of the AVS's abilities is likely to be the Acadiana Technology Immersion Center, an $18 million, state-funded virtual reality cave set for construction near LEDA. That project will need the resource of a supercomputer to help construct the scenarios in the cave. Theoretically, scenarios can be created that allow a doctor to travel through a patient's body, searching for problems, or to show a planner how a proposed construction project would impact the city. The possibilities are endless, Spears said. But Spears hopes the AVS has more wide-reaching effects. "We'd like to create the awareness that Lafayette is moving toward becoming a more high-tech community; so that people will see us as a high-tech center," Spears said. He hopes that Lafayette can come to see itself as a high-tech, enlightened community that surpasses the statistics one usually associates with Louisiana. "I think we have a self-image problem, and I want to change that," Spears said. "The most valuable result of this project could be a community that is galvanized in terms of what we think of ourselves." There also is the potential to link ULL with the business community in a way that benefits both parties. "One of our goals as a group is to see that the fabric of the university and of industry are meshed together," he said. "We've both got resources. All you have to do is apply these ideas." And when that is accomplished, more opportunities are opened in the market -- and that could mean more of Lafayette's brightest students will stay here, Spears said. The brainstorming still is going on. Spears is working on a model to deal with the complexities and difficulties that can arise when an industry-university partnership creates marketable, and often valuable, "intellectual property." But soon, the group plans to take the concept of the AVS to the community. "We want to do a lot of public relations and promotions, hopefully some public service announcements on television and radio," Spears said. "There's a lot of education that has to take place," Menefee added. The main attractor probably will be the projects themselves, Menefee said. "We know we need to make it cool, fun and interesting to attract as many people as we can," he said. For more information about the Acadiana Virtual Supercomputer, call Keith Thibodeaux at LEDA, 337-593-1414, or Spears at 337-269-0299. The project soon will have a Web site, but it has not yet been completed.