Intel kicks off distributed computing campaign

Intel's Progress Thru Processors campaign runs via Facebook

Intel has launched a distributed computing initiative in which users can donate idle time on their processors for research efforts.

The Progress Thru Processors campaign runs via Facebook, and connects users to a number of distributed computing projects.

The projects aim to expand research efforts by breaking large scientific workloads into small pieces which are then sent out to end users for processing.

The projects include Rosetta at Home, which analyses protein structures, ClimatePrediction.net, which tests the accuracy of climate models, and Africa at Home, which tackles humanitarian issues such as malaria.

Those wishing to take part can obtain the Progress Thru Processors beta through Facebook. Intel explained that the software will run only when the CPU has idle processing power, and has little overall effect on the system's power consumption.

Intel hopes to connect increasingly powerful processor hardware on end-user systems with the distributed research efforts.

"Progress Thru Processors underscores our belief that small contributions made by individuals can collectively have a far-reaching impact on our world," said Deborah Conrad, vice president and general manager of Intel's Corporate Marketing Group.

"By simply running an application on your computer, which uses very little incremental resources, you can expand computing resources to researchers working to make the world a better place."