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SETI project slowed by copper thieves
>From IDG.net
March 2, 2001
Web posted at: 5:06 p.m. EST (2206 GMT)
by Ashlee Vance
(IDG) -- The search for life in outer space hit a snag earlier this week
when the SETI@Home project ran into some very terrestrial problems. A group
of vandals apparently disrupted cables in the SETI@Home network while
searching for valuable copper wire.
The SETI project uses a distributed computing model to search for signs of
extraterrestrial life. The University of California at Berkeley (U.C.
Berkeley) began the effort as a way to make use of idle computing resources
from users around the world.
More than 2 million volunteers are estimated to have downloaded the free
SETI@Home software, which allows their home or office computer to help with
the search. Users would typically allow the software to process
transmissions from radio telescopes while they were not using their own
computer. SETI@Home officials estimate the collaborative effort spanning
users in 224 countries creates total computing power at least 10 times
greater than the world's largest supercomputer.
However, none of SETI@Home's millions of users have been able to donate
their computer's resources since Feb. 27 because of a cut in a fiber optic
cable connecting the U.C. Berkeley campus with the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory (LBNL). Vandals apparently damaged the cable while
attempting to salvage copper from other nearby cables, according to a
statement posted on the Web site of the university's Communications and
Network Services department.
The sliced fiber optic cable transferred voice and data information for the
LBNL and the Space Sciences Lab, where the SETI@Home project is located. The
snafu made volunteers unable to connect to SETI@Home servers.
The problem was originally expected to have been fixed by Thursday; however,
the work now isn't expected to be completed before late Friday, according to
information on the U.C. Berkeley Web site. Officials at U.C. Berkeley did
not immediately return a call seeking comment.
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Reference link:
http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/internet/03/02/seti.cable.idg/index.html .
--
Jeffrey Ottie
==
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