FOSTER CITY, Calif., Feb. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Computer Entertainment
Inc. (SCEI) today announced that since PLAYSTATION(R)3 (PS3(R)) took part
in Stanford University's Folding@home(TM) project on March 22, 2007, the
total number of registered users has reached over one million users. This
equates to roughly 3,000 PS3 users registering for Folding@home per day or
2 new registered users every minute worldwide.
"Since partnering with SCEI, we have seen our research capabilities
increase by leaps and bounds through the continued participation of
Folding@home users," said Vijay Pande, Associate Professor of Chemistry at
Stanford University and Folding@home project lead. "Now we have over one
million PS3 users registered for Folding@home, allowing us to address
questions previously considered impossible to tackle computationally, with
the goal of finding cures to some of the world's most life-threatening
diseases. We are grateful for the extraordinary worldwide participation by
PS3 and PC users around the globe."
Folding@home aims to understand protein folding and misfolding, and how
these are related to diseases and many forms of cancer. When proteins do
not fold correctly, there can be serious consequences, including many
well-known diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's, Parkinson's
disease, and many cancers and cancer-related syndromes.
Prior to the inclusion of PS3 in March 2007, the Folding@home project
leveraged the distributed computing power of personal computers from around
the world. Now a network of roughly 10,000 PS3s can accomplish the same
amount of work as a network of 100,000 PCs, and have the ability to perform
research simulations in weeks rather than years. In fact, it took just six
months after PS3 joining Folding@home for the project to surpass a
petaflops (*1), a computing milestone that had never been reached before by
a distributed computing network. On September 16, 2007, Folding@home was
recognized by Guinness World Records(TM) as the world's most powerful
distributed computing network.
Currently PS3 users make up approximately 74 percent of the total
teraflop computing power of the Folding@home project. For more information,
please see official website: http://www.scei.co.jp/folding/en/.
(*1) A petaflops is the ability of a computer to do one quadrillion
floating point operations per second (FLOPS).
About Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
Recognized as the global leader and company responsible for the
progression of consumer-based computer entertainment, Sony Computer
Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) manufacturers, distributes and markets the
PlayStation(R) game console, the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment
system, the PSP(R) (PlayStation(R)Portable) handheld entertainment system
and the PLAYSTATION(R)3 (PS3(R)) system. PlayStation has revolutionized
home entertainment by introducing advanced 3D graphic processing, and
PlayStation 2 further enhances the PlayStation legacy as the core of home
networked entertainment. PSP is a new handheld entertainment system that
allows users to enjoy 3D games, with high-quality full-motion video, and
high-fidelity stereo audio. PS3 is an advanced computer system,
incorporating the state-of-the-art Cell processor with super computer like
power. SCEI, along with its subsidiary divisions Sony Computer
Entertainment America Inc., Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd., and
Sony Computer Entertainment Korea Inc. develops, publishes, markets and
distributes software, and manages the third party licensing programs for
these platforms in the respective markets worldwide. Headquartered in
Tokyo, Japan, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. is an independent business
unit of the Sony Group.
PlayStation, PLAYSTATION, PS3 and PSP are registered trademarks and
Cell Broadband Engine is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
SOURCE Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
