In the fight against smallpox, the search for new treatments can take years. But in 2003, a group of scientists needed less than six months to identify 45 potential treatments by using grid computing, which joins individual computers to create a large system of distributed computing resources.
Based on the success of the smallpox study, World Community Grid was established in November 2004. Since then, IBM has worked with leading science, education and philanthropic organizations to create what has become one of the largest public humanitarian grids in existence. On the grid, the idle time of hundreds—even thousands—of computers can be harnessed for a nonprofit research organization that needs a massive infusion of processing power.
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