Genetics role for grid computing

Genetics researchers are using grid computing to speed up investigations into new ways of tackling disease.

UK biopharmaceutical company Oxford GlycoSciences (OGS) has implemented the technology to improve the utilisation of its server infrastructure and shorten the time it takes to process work.

OGS analyses protein samples using complex algorithms, compares them against various public and proprietary databases, and then constructs bespoke databases that are sold to its customers, mostly pharmaceutical companies, for use in drugs development.

Almost all of the work is heavily computing-intensive, putting strain on its 100 processor Sun Microsystems server infrastructure to process jobs as fast as possible.

Director of proteomics discovery and chief information officer Andrew Lyall says many jobs takes weeks to process.

'Over time we realised that our servers were being badly utilised: we'd find one box running at 102 per cent, while the next box would be running at two per cent,' he said.

To maximise processor utilisation, OGS implemented Sun One Grid Engine, grid computing software that dynamically matches applications with the most appropriate servers.

The company immediately noticed a reduction in turnaround time: one job scheduled to take three months was done in a week, while others typically processed in week were done in a day or less.

Lyall says OGS has also saved money by dramatically reducing the number of new processors required.

'Previously we needed to scale up our server environment almost continuously to cope with increasing demand. Since we started using a grid solution, we've not yet needed to buy any more servers,' he said.

In the future, OGS may not even have to worry about a server infrastructure at all: using grid engine portal technology, the company could connect to grid computing resources anywhere in the world.

'If I can get my CPU cycles without having to maintain an infrastructure, and I can get the same levels of service, why not do it?' said OGS Unix systems manager Alan Hart.