Researchers in South Africa now have access to a new supercomputer at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) offices in Pretoria. Though the computer’s peak output of one teraflop pales in comparison to systems in other parts of the world, it nonetheless provides a new level of computational power to scientists studying several medical conditions that are epidemic in South Africa, including AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. The system, which was donated to the CSIR by Intel, is free of charge for researchers, who will use it to process vast amounts of data related to the structure of diseases, how they are transmitted, and the effectiveness of vaccines. Winston Hide, director of the South African National Bioinformatics Institute at the University of the Western Cape, explained the benefits of the new system by saying, “It’s like using the brightest possible search light in a cave as opposed to a torch.”
CNET, 12 December 2006
http://news.com.com/2100-11390_3-6143082.html
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