IBM announces Cell-based “gameframe” system for hosting virtual worlds (updated) – arstechnica.com: Nice to see Big Irons being put to good use, such as gaming and 3D virtual worlds ( ;) ); maybe this is the angle that IBM is playing with its support of ‘Get a life‘… I mean, Second Life.
IBM announced a project that will join forces with Brazilian game developer Hoplon Infotainment to develop a Cell-based mainframe system that will host massively multiplayer online games targeted at console and PC users. IBM is calling this system a “gameframe,” and it will use Cell BE coprocessors to handle message passing and physics simulation for a Hoplon-developed MMOG middleware layer, called bitVerse, that the two companies are porting to Cell. The mainframe’s general-purpose CPUs will handle aspects of the MMOG like logistics, connectivity, and the Websphere- and DB2-driven portions of bitVerse.
The system will be Linux-based, and though this isn’t stated, it might be based on the IBM System Cluster 1350, if not identical to it. The System Cluster 1350 is a high-performance computing product with models that integrate the Cell BE as a coprocessor with general-purpose processors from Intel, AMD, or IBM. IBM’s statement that the cluster can include “up to 336 RISC processors” strongly implies that the general-purpose CPU will come from the company’s POWER line. The other, perhaps even more likely option is that it’ll involve a System z mainframe put together with racks of IBM’s Cell blades. The press release includes a quote from a System z manager, which may indicate that this system is involved.
Wake me when one of these cell-based processor plans actually changes an industry. The cell in the PS3 hasn’t earned it any advantages.
Isn’t this like the “Matrix”
I thought was can never trust a computer we can’t lift.
So this isn’t the box we’re all waiting for to run Vista, then.
#4 – doesnt exist, never will
Hmm…. I wonder if I could convince the boss to KEEP the mainframe now?
Given the recent reports that IBM is going to lay off 100,000+ workers this year, I have to wonder what kind of support one will get with this expensive system. I can just see the new WoW servers going down, and the poor admin is on the phone with Rajeev, er, “Bob”, listening to him walk through a checklist starting with “is the computer plugged in?”
7. “I have to wonder what kind of support one will get with this expensive system.”
Outsourced.
Iv been trying to set something like this up for years…
I just cant get these EXTRA rich folk to SEE’ the idea…
Behold! The PS4
I almost forgot! *cough* *cough*
I can’t wait for a machead to yap “My underpowered iMac can outperform that mainframe and it costs twice as much!”