PS3’s Cell Processor Finds Another Use in IBM’s BladeCenter QS20

Not everyone actually listens to the makers about the tech involved in making a console so much as the end result. When Hideo Kojima references IBM’s Cell Processor in a version of his Guns of the Patriots trailer, however, then you kinda want to shift focus a bit and keep your eyes peeled for news, if only because Kojima makes non-ninja stealth assassination cool.

So here’s the next update on the Cell Processor, and this time, it has very little to do with the PS3 (though it may just be good PR for the darned thing).

In addition to using the Cell as one of the processing chips for the Roadrunner supercomputer, IBM has decided to find another use for their Cell by making it a component in a new model of their blade servers. Dubbed the BladeCenter QS20, it’s being marketed as a high-end graphics server.

Currently, BladeCenter QS20 is being used in academic fields, some of which require such heavy-duty servers to take the weight of their projects. The Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics in Germany, for example, will be using it to improve their in-house visual applications, while Britain’s University of Manchester intend to use it for their computing needs as it eats up less space and power while upgrading their overall computing performance.

What do you think? Will this be good PR for Sony and the PS3 as well as the IBM, or is it bad news for Sony?

Not everyone actually listens to the makers about the tech involved in making a console so much as the end result. When Hideo Kojima references IBM’s Cell Processor in a version of his Guns of the Patriots trailer, however, then you kinda want to shift focus a bit and keep your eyes peeled for news, if only because Kojima makes non-ninja stealth assassination cool.

So here’s the next update on the Cell Processor, and this time, it has very little to do with the PS3 (though it may just be good PR for the darned thing).

In addition to using the Cell as one of the processing chips for the Roadrunner supercomputer, IBM has decided to find another use for their Cell by making it a component in a new model of their blade servers. Dubbed the BladeCenter QS20, it’s being marketed as a high-end graphics server.

Currently, BladeCenter QS20 is being used in academic fields, some of which require such heavy-duty servers to take the weight of their projects. The Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics in Germany, for example, will be using it to improve their in-house visual applications, while Britain’s University of Manchester intend to use it for their computing needs as it eats up less space and power while upgrading their overall computing performance.

What do you think? Will this be good PR for Sony and the PS3 as well as the IBM, or is it bad news for Sony?