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Children's Memorial Research Center (Chicago, USA)
Background
Children's Memorial Research Center was established as a research institution for
Children's Memorial Hospital in 1986. The research center is located in the Lincoln Park, Chicago,
and has capacities for various basic science research.
Managerial issues
With the help of a resident physician, diagnostics at the Children's Memorial Research Center in Chicago have received a progressive boost.
Using grid computing to aid a data mining application,
the hospital was able to churn out brain tumor tests that usually took 24 hours to process in only one hour and twenty minutes.
Technology applied
Dr. Eric Bremer, Director of the Brain Tumor Research Program at the center,
decided to invest in grid computing as an alternative to high-end servers, which were more costly and less efficient.
Grid computing as the solution
Grid computing helped Bremer achieve more efficient use of in-house computing power.
According to Catherine DeSesa, system engineer at SPSS, each of the different modes of the data mining application has a series of steps,
which in turn have "wrappers" around them.
The grid technology takes wrappers and sends them to any idle processors on the grid.
The grid software has a central Linux-based server and several agents on Windows machines designated as "on the grid."
The idle processors on doctors' and researchers' laptops and desktops are tapped by the software.
Then, parts of the data mining application process are sent out to be performed on available machines.
Once the results of the parts processed are completed, they are sent back to the grid server,
which recompiles the data and delivers it via a Web interface.
Key learning
The Children's Memorial Research Center case illustrates the cost-saving and efficiency benefits of grid computing.
However, it also demonstrates how grid computing can enhance the speed of software applications in a way to provide quicker results.
This is especially crucial in a life-and-death industry such as cancer research and children's medical research.
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