Australians Look To SkyNet For SKA Telescope

angry tapir writes "Key players behind the Australian-New Zealand joint bid to host the $2.1 billion Square Kilometre Array radio telescope will launch a grid Cloud computing initiative by September with the aim of harvesting the computing and storage power of desktops worldwide."

you know the drill

[mug funky]

I, for one, welcome our new telescopic overlords.

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[Pieroxy]

So... They are reinventing Seti@Home? I guess there is a news here, but where?

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[Stuarticus]

Haven't these guys heard of suspend/hibernate, does anyone leave their computer on all the time anymore unless it's actually a server and has something to do? If they do they should really be asking themselves why.

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[Anonymous Coward]

$2.1 billion for Ska? That's just Madness.

Can we quit the Skynet references?

[syousef]

Can we quit the Skynet references? Please?

We've had distributed computer networks for decades now. We've used them for scientific research for as long as we have had them. "Cloud" computing is just marketing nonsense. Not every distributed network is some global monster that's going to go sentient and send our killer robots. When so many stories mention the Terminator series, we all sound like pathetic geeky children with too much time on our hands and no sense of originality. Doubly so when it's in the title. Is there a new Terminator film or series just out or something?

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[account_deleted]

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[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, seriously. I mean, in this article we've also got the SKA telescope! That should be ripe with third-wave references!

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[zaxus]

No Doubt third wave references will show up. That's the Impression that I Get, anyway...

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[baker_tony]

Yeah, skynet references have jumped the shark...

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[dzfoo]

>> Not every distributed network is some global monster that's going to go sentient and send our killer robots.

That may be true, but the problem is that we can't easily discern which ones will. Therefore, in the interest of Mankind's survival, we distrust them all, "cloud" and "peer-to-peer" alike.

            -dZ.

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[RevWaldo]

Only someone working for Skynet would deny the existence of Skynet. Nice try, comrade.

.

BOINC

[Arador Aristata]

"harvesting the computing and storage power of desktops worldwide." Oh cool, you mean like BOINC has been doing for ages......

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[dkf]

Oh cool, you mean like BOINC has been doing for ages......

If they've got any sense, they'll use BOINC as the platform. (Remember, the story's been filtered by know-nothing journalists.)

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[Push Latency]

If I understand correctly, this project would use Nereus-V [ox.ac.uk] instead of BOINC. The former transmits data through a Web browser, where the latter does so using the BOINC client. I can't say more because I don't really see how those are much different at the end of the day, but with Nereus, you connect to projects over HTTP, which they argue is easier for users than launching a pre-configured native client.

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[account_deleted]

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[dakameleon]

fondling@home is already available to a wide, wide population... it's what the internet is for, after all.

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[dbIII]

we must make fondling@home available to a wider population

Supposedly it has the only truly intuitive interface.

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[mug funky]

what's that make me? i'm australian and a /.er

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[kiddygrinder]

i think one reverses the other, i'm not sure what the modifier is for being actually gay though.

forget space, where's......

[the simurgh]

i say we stop this space watching crap and get down to whats really important. WHERE THE HELL ARE THE PERSONAL JET PACKS???

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[dakameleon]

In SPACE. Where we are LOOKING FOR THEM.

Not cloud computing

[Zouden]

Come on, get your buzzwords right. Cloud computing is when much of the processing is done on remote servers (the "cloud"). Distributed computing is when the processing is done by ordinary desktops worldwide. That's what this is. The article makes this mistake several times, but it's not entirely their fault. The system is called the "Nereus V Cloud" [ox.ac.uk] despite clearly being a distributed computing program.

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[qc_dk]

I completely agree with you that this buzzword bingo has to stop.
However you seem to also have messed up the terminology a bit. :)

Cloud computing refers to provisioning of resources across the network normally using virtual machines. You retain "full" control of the machine. Cloud computing could be used for distributed computing.

Grid computing is the connection of supercomputers across the world. This involves things like handling access rights, policies, accounting etc.

Parallel computation involves the co

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[Errol backfiring]

Apart from that, there are no clouds in space.

SKA

[Nigel Stepp]

The telescope was originally going to be called "Save Ferris", but they couldn't work out the acronym.

Im happy..

[philmarcracken]

Since the SKA was going to be built close to my town of Geraldton(300kms is close in aussie terms) we got non-monopoly controlled backhaul fibre at our exchange quicker. Its also going to be part of the FTTH network eventually so two birds with 1 cable.. Not that last mile is going in the ground anytime soon but hey, progress.

SKA telescope?

[Raging Bool]

What complete and utter madness....

Well, it sounds like this SKA telescope....

[RevWaldo]

...is going (sunglasses) one step beyond.

.

So then...

[Chris Mattern]

A megalomaniac consortium of robots is going to give Australia a telescope that plays Jamaican music? I'm confused...