
Last year, the Air Force acquired at least 300 PS3s for test purposes of the Cell Broadband Engine. The systems, now numbering at 336 PS3 units, are at Air Force Research Laboratory’s information directorate in Rome, N.Y.Now the Air Force wishes to at another 2,200 consoles to the mix, which presumably means that the initial test batch yielded pleasing results.
After inspecting the document on the Federal Business Opportunities site, it appears that the Air Force is not interested in the new, cheaper slim model. Rather, it is after the 160 GB model (CECHP01 or 989038) that was available in limited quantities before the 120 GB slim model arrived.The Air Force has used the PS3 cluster to stitch multiple radar images into higher resolution composite images, video processing, and building computers with brain-like properties.
Brain-like properties? Can anyone say..SkyNet?
Written by: fleakitten













#1 by SicSemperTyranis on November 28th, 2009
So “It only does everything” is not just a clever marketing slogan.
^
#2 by JimmyMagnum on November 28th, 2009
lmao, terminator is a prophetic movie!
^
#3 by Royalty1 on November 28th, 2009
Not about topic. Just got online today. User ID is Royalty2132. playing MW2 and U2 so look out for me.
^
#4 by Michael on November 30th, 2009
Now, if only the hypervisor was free software, the USAF might’ve just developed the missing device drivers for the slim and run their linux (or whatever it is) on that. Of course, they could still fund Sony to do the work, but there’s much less benefit that way.
PS3’s are a cheap way to do CELL dev, a workstation or blade costs 10x as much.
^