Understanding Folding@home for the PS3

Although the Stanford team may be coordinating the project and providing the servers that make it work, the responsibility of creating the software that would be distributed onto every participating PS3 unit was planted firmly on the shoulders of Sony. We spoke extensively with Klaus Hofrichter, Director of Research and Development at Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), who had a hand in Sony's involvement with the project. Here's what he had to say:

We spoke recently with Professor Pande, who informed us that Sony was the first to initiate contact regarding participation in the Folding@home project. Could you tell us how that came about? What was it about F@H that interested Sony, and why was this project pursued?
In early 2006, SCEA's R& D team was looking for new opportunities to exploit the power of the Cell processor beyond gaming and entertainment. Stanford's Folding@home project was a great opportunity, given its worthy cause and the technical requirements of the Folding@home application, which was ideal for utilizing the power of the Cell processor. SCEA contacted Professor Pande to express an interest in collaborating on this project. Stanford was open and accepting to this idea. After the initial prototype, SCEA found the technical results were promising. Executive management decided to include this application in the PS3 firmware upgrade (version 1.60). We had hoped, and expected, that PS3 and the PS3 user community would make a significant contribution to the Folding@home program and related advancements in medical research and science.

What are your thoughts on the number of PS3 users who have participated in the project thus far? Have they met your expectations?
The participation and response from the PS3 community was overwhelming and has exceeded our expectation for the initial phase. Our main goal is to sustain a certain level of contribution, so that the medical research benefits human kind over a sustainable period of time. There are some features, such as "Autostart" of the application, that support this long-term goal. We are also planning additional features and campaigns to continue raising awareness and support for the Folding@home program.

What, exactly, is a "work unit"? What kind of data is each individual PS3 unit computing?
A "work unit" is a block of data that describes a protein and its environment. A Folding@home client retrieves such a "work unit" from Stanford's servers and starts calculations based on the data provided. The number of floating point operations (FLOPS) are predetermined and based on the proteins behavior in a given environment. The result of this calculation can be seen on the screen as the simulation is progressing.

What determines when a protein molecule has gone under "enough" folding simulation?
Each "work unit" comes with a predetermined calculation request. This is the number of "frames" that a Folding@home client is supposed to calculate before returning the "work unit" to Stanford's servers. The number of frames is defined by Stanford's researchers. In determining the frames, the researchers take the size of the protein, the complexity, and the speed of the client into account. Based on these considerations, a PS3 is asked to calculate over a certain time (e.g 4 or 8 hours). This is completely controlled by Stanford's research team. They choose the values based on scientific reasons and technical reasons.

How will scientists utilize the data Stanford has collected to cure diseases?
Stanford researchers collect the results and combine individual calculations to a longer sequence. A complete folding process will consist of numerous "work unit" results. The data is then analyzed by using the scientific methods. The scientists look for certain behavior of proteins to explain diseases. Once a certain clue is identified, additional calculations are scheduled to verify the results which eventually lead to a better understanding of the reasons for a certain behavior or misbehavior This knowledge can then be used to develop cures.

Will this project see an actual end? Will there be a point when enough protein data has been calculated to establish a conclusion to Stanford's research?
Unfortunately, there are many variations of diseases that may keep the Folding@homenetwork busy for years to come.

The yellow lights on the world map point to PS3 users, but out of curiosity, what do the blue lights represent?
The blue/white lights appear only on the night-side of the globe. These lights represent cities and population centers around the world.

Does Sony plan to add new features to the program, or will there not be any further updates?
Yes, we expect there will be future updates and enhancements to the application. There are a number of ideas to improve the Folding@home client performance and visual appeal.

Does Sony have any other plans to give PS3 users the chance to participate in other distributed computing projects?
SCEA is evaluating other distributed computing projects, but no decision has been made at this time to extend the project beyond Folding@home. We will monitor the overall participation level and listen to the user community. This will influence our future direction in this field.

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