Texas A&M University Employs Grid Computing To Expand IT Resources

University to Accelerate Genetic Research with United Devices' Technology

AUSTIN, Texas, May 11, 2004 — United Devices™, the market leader in secure grid solutions, is in the process of linking together 1000 computers at Texas A&M University to create one of the most powerful academic grids focused on microbial genetics and genomics research projects in the United States.

"My laboratory primarily studies the interactions between proteins and their ligands, substrates and inhibitors," said Jim Sacchettini, Director of A&M's Center for Structural Biology. "We use several techniques in the examination of the molecular details of these types of interactions including grid-based tools that run on the United Devices Grid MP™ platform. Our approach to designing drugs is to first determine the 3-D structure of a target enzyme and then use these data to design inhibitors that will bind to the enzyme's active site. These structural studies are combined with high throughput and combinatorial screens to find lead candidates. This process is working for us — we have designed and synthesized several compounds which are drug candidates for tuberculosis treatment."

The United Devices Grid MP platform allows the University to increase the power of its core resources beyond what would normally be possible in the scope of their budget.

"Texas A&M is ahead of the curve in using grid computing for its core R&D work," said United Devices' CEO Ed Hubbard. "The research work at Texas A&M is similar to what we see in our large commercial pharma accounts. This is just another proof point that a reasonably priced academic solution can offer enormous value for universities focused on carrying out production-level computational research."

Grid MP™ Enterprise from United Devices is the leading grid solution for on-site institutional deployments. By collectively harnessing the power of existing clusters, servers, desktops, and workstations, organizations maximize the value of existing resources while gaining compute power to accelerate and refine their research and analysis. The software aggregates heterogeneous resources into a processing network capable of increasing processing power (and decreasing processing time) exponentially.

United Devices, Inc. and Texas A&M University are also working together on grant proposals to investigate various orphan diseases.

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