PlayStation Meets Mainframe (In Second Life?)

Well, it isn't exactly PlayStation 3 meets the mainframe -- but it's close. The deal is that IBM has announced a project that integrates the Cell processor (developed by IBM, Sony, and Toshiba and used used in the PlayStation 3 game console) with the IBM mainframe.

To what end? According to IBM it is for the purpose of creating a hybrid that is blazingly fast and powerful, with security features designed to handle a new generation of "virtual world" applications (can you say "Second Life"?), such as the 3D Internet.

The project capitalizes on the mainframe's ability to accelerate work via "specialty processors," as well as its networking architecture, which makes possible the ultra-fast communication required to create virtual worlds with large numbers of simultaneous users sharing a single environment. IBM is launching the project in cooperation with with Hoplon Infotainment, a Brazilian online game company whose software is a key component of testing the capabilities of the new environment.

"As online environments increasingly incorporate aspects of virtual reality -- including 3D graphics and lifelike, real-time interaction among many simultaneous users -- companies of all types will need a computing platform that can handle a broad spectrum of demanding performance and security requirements," said Jim Stallings, general manager, IBM System z. "To serve this market, the Cell/B.E. processor is the perfect complement to the mainframe, the only server designed to handle millions of simultaneous users."

What IBM and Hoplon are planning on is an environment that can seamlessly run demanding simulations -- such as massive online virtual reality environments; 3D applications for mapping, enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management; 3D virtual stores and meeting rooms; collaboration environments; and new types of data repositories. To achieve this goal, the workload will be parceled out between the mainframe and the Cell processor. The Cell will handle the complex simulation associated with operating in virtual worlds; for example, a ball thrown in a virtual reality world must obey the laws of gravity.

To make it all happen, Hoplon's software is being ported to the Cell to handle message passing and physics simulation. The companies have already created a programming model and messaging architecture that separates the application running on the system. For its part, the mainframe will run Hoplon's middleware for virtual worlds, called bitVerse, currently under development using WebSphere XD as the underlying runtime environment, along with DB2.

In addition, the mainframe will run the administrative tasks for middleware and applications. It will also handle logistics (billing, and the like), and connectivity to third parties as well as to multiple clients, which might include PCs, game systems, mobile phones, music players, TVs, and other devices.

A couple of things immediately come to mind:

• Multicore. The Cell processor is a powerful multicore device. As I've said before, if you're not up to speed on multicore development issues, you need to be.
• Second Life. IBM's announcement didn't specifically say "Second Life" but it sure said "virtual environments" a lot and Second Life is the leader of the pack in that regard. (And if you want to find out more about Second Life, be sure to check out Dr. Dobb's Life2.0 Summit this weekend.) IBM Rational Software has launched in Second Life its Codestation, a resource for software developers.
• Second Life Open Source Server. It starts to get really interesting when you think about SL server software running on all these mainframes. With SL's plans to open source the server software, this becomes more of a reality.

Posted by Jon Erickson at 08:42 AM  Permalink