ZDNet-UK editor Will Knight reports on some assistance Linux is providing to the Cambridge University DNA decoding project. The Linux isn't part of an embedded system, in this case, but the DNA certainly is ;)

“The Linux operating system has helped scientists in Cambridge to decode the 34 million chemical 'letters' that constitute a human chomosome. Scientists at the Sanger Centre in Cambridge are expected to announce any day that chromosome 22, an complete section of human DNA, has been successfully mapped.”

“Two hundred and fifty Alpha processor-based Linux systems contributed to the huge number-crunching effort required to interpret the chemical make-up of a chromosome. The centre combined all the Linux machines into one giant 'virtual computer' in order to maximise their computational power.”

“The head of information technology at the Sanger Centre, Phil Butcher, praises the Load Sharing Facility (LSF) technology from Platform Computing, that made this possible. 'The raw computing power required to complete the project was unprecedented.'”

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