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Each week, IBM will highlight a story from around the world where IBM engineers are collaborating with clients, business partners, ISV's and education institutions to bring the latest technology to the market in new and innovative ways. |
Did you know...
...as current natural resources such as oil and gas continue to diminish, a growing population continues to rely on those stand-by energy sources while alternatives are explored? For now, this equation has created a deficit in the US; for example, we now import more than 50 percent of our oil for day-to-day use.
So, the search is on for the quickest, easiest way to find these wells of energy deep beneath the Earth's crust. Researchers at the University of Houston may just have cracked that problem - and with quite an unconventional, modern approach.
IBM and the University of Houston's Mission-Oriented Seismic Research Program (M-OSRP) have announced that by using the Cell Broadband Engine (Cell/B.E.), the same chip found inside Sony's Playstation3, researchers now have the ability to compute the location of oil reserves underneath the earth's crust more quickly and efficiently than ever before.
With Cell's supercomputing power, the University can overcome the inherent challenges with measuring data that far underground, such as 'noise' produced by layers upon layers of rock and materials. And since the system is working in tandem with IBM Blade Servers, the University also has unique ability to process multiple threads of data independently, for the most complete picture.
You can see the press release here.
See how IBM is collaborating with clients in unique ways in next Friday's installment of 40 Clients in 40 Weeks!
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