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FlashMob I: A First Step Toward Practical Instant Supercomputing

4/8/2004

By Greg Benson

The event itself was well received. We had a diverse set of participants, including high school students, college teachers, and supercomputing experts. Everyone had a sense that they were participating in something revolutionary. We also received quite a bit of media attention. As a result, we have received extremely positive feedback from around the world and scores of people are motivated to organize a FlashMob Computer in their own cities. Many people now recognize that they have an untapped resource in their laptops and desktop and would like to put them to work for a good cause.

Since we made our software available on our Web site, many people are running their own FlashMobs at home, in schools, and at work. People seem excited about turning their own computers into a supercomputer. For some people, this is the first time they had ever heard of parallel computing, the idea of using multiple computers simultaneously to solve a single problem. It seems we have done more than introduce a new type of computing; we have also popularized supercomputing and raised awareness about its potential.

We have completed the first step toward making the vision of FlashMob Computing a reality. We have shown that an instant supercomputer is feasible. However, the next step is a larger one: scientific applications must be tailored for FlashMob Computing. Many people run SETI@Home because it is easy. A FlashMob scientific application must also be simple to run in order to make it possible for non-experts to perform real experiments on their own FlashMob computers. Our vision is that scientists (physicists, chemists, biologists, etc.) will adapt their existing supercomputer applications to the FlashMob environment. By creating easy-to-run CD-ROMs, a group of people can simply duplicate as many CDs as expected computers for a FlashMob. We hope that scientists will be motivated to adapt their applications for FlashMobs, because they offer an alternative platform for doing scientific computation. Our Web site can serve as a meeting ground for scientists and the individuals who want to build FlashMob computers.

At USF we are still reflecting on FlashMob I and planning improvements to the core FlashMob software. We intend to make the project open source, so anyone will be able to download and modify our code. Specific improvements include reducing the setup and configuration time of a FlashMob so that the computers can be used for computation as quickly as possible. Since a FlashMob computer is temporary, it is important to maximize the amount of time dedicated to computation. A related issue involves making Flashmob computers more resistant to failure. The benchmark program used in FlashMob I would crash if any single computer failed during the computation. With a large number of volunteer computers it is possible that a small fraction of them could be unreliable. Again, because FlashMobs are temporary it is important to withstand failures in order to maximize the computation time.

FlashMob I turned out to be a unifying project at USF. Many faculty members and students in the Department of Computer Science contributed to the FlashMob software. The organizational effort spanned several administrative units and received tremendous support from all levels in the university. USF student volunteers and non-USF volunteers helped make the day run smoothly and enjoyable for the participants. A FlashMob supercomputer is as much about the people who participate as it is about the technology they bring.

Read Syllabus' coverage of the Flashmob Computing event.

Greg Benson (benson@usfca.edu) is an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of San Francisco.

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