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the Hushed Casket
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US military buying 300 PlayStation 3 consoles for research lab project
Submitted by rapture on Tue, 03/04/2008 - 10:40pm.
According to a presolicitation notice from the US General Services Administration, the US military is buying 300 PlayStation 3's for some kind of unspecified research. According to the notice:
The Air Force Research Laboratory is conducting a technology assessment of certain cell
processors. The processors in the Sony PlayStation 3 are the only brand on the market that utilizes the specific cell processor characteristics needed for this program at an acceptable cost.
It looks like Uncle Sam is building a hive mind based on cell processors on the cheap! Cell processors are found in each PlayStation 3 and run at 3.2 GHz.
Flashback: In late 2006 a machine codenamed "Roadrunner" was to be build by Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico by the Department of Energy. Roadrunner was to be build upon the cell processors designed for the PlayStation 3. According to Los Alamos National Laboratory, Phase 1 of the Roadrunner development is underway.
That's pretty interesting.
That's pretty interesting. I suppose the fact that console manufacturers take a loss on hardware means cheap processors for interested consumers. However, it's kind of strange that the military couldn't source just the processor for cheaper than an entire PS3. I would think that the processor alone isn't $400 and that shipping costs for entire consoles vs. processors alone would further drive the cost up. Do they need the rest of the PS3 for some reason?
That's definitely something
That's definitely something to wonder about...maybe they can just afford it? The Fed does create money out of thin air.
I'm sure AFRL is just like
I'm sure AFRL is just like all other government entities: they have a budget. The gov can borrow from the fed and allocate AFRL more money next fiscal year, but AFRL itself can't borrow from the fed and create the money.
Everybody has a budget, even government entities. However, the "children" entities must keep their spending within budget while the "parent" is free to create debt and issue them a bigger budget next FY.
I wonder if they're using
I wonder if they're using retail PS3s or development-kit PS3s.
I'd say that they are going
I'd say that they are going to try and build a supercomputer out of them, but not because they need another supercomputer. It would be easier for them to call IBM and get a Blue Gene box if they wanted to do that. As far as I know, the US Airforce has a pretty good cyberwarfare division. I'd say they are going to try and build a supercomputer out of them to see how feasible it would be for an unfriendly nation or terrorist organisation to do the same. This was one of the fears that was raised back when the PS2 was released and Iraq was trying to get a bunch of them.
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