ARN

PlayStation 3 OS changes affect Air Force

Upkeep of the US Air Force's supercomputer may be a much more difficult endeavor

Late last year, we brought you a story reporting that the U.S. Air Force commissioned a $2 million purchase for thousands of PlayStation 3 consoles in order to create a supercomputer capable of running complex military programs, with the PS3's cell processor and ability to run alternative operating systems were cited as major factors in the decision. Now it seems as though Sony's recent decision to remove the PS3's ability to run other operating systems will make upkeep of the Air Force's supercomputer a much more difficult endeavor.

While an Air Force Research Laboratory member told Ars Technica "We will have to continue to use the systems we already have in hand," the official added, "this will make it difficult to replace systems that break or fail." The Air Force apparently is being given any preferential treatment by Sony in their procurement of the consoles, as the lab member recounted "The refurbished PS3s also have the problem that when they come back from Sony, they have the firmware (gameOS) and it will not allow Other OS, which seems wrong."

SOURCE: Air Force may suffer collateral damage from PS3 firmware update [Opposable Thumbs, Ars Technica]

Nominations for the 2012 ARN IT Industry Awards open on Tuesday, June 12.

More about: Linux, Sony
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the ARN comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: Playstation 3, supercomputers
ARN Directory | Distributors relevant to this article
ACA Pacific , Alloys , Anixter , Aquion , ASI Solutions , Bluechip Infotech , Compucon Computers , Dicker Data , Leader Computers , Multimedia Technology , Xpress I.T. , Dynamic Supplies
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to ARN's news, research and invitation only events.
ARN Distributor Directory
Find distributors by name | vendor | location
Channel Deals
/deals/aca-pacific/442_rimage-trade-in-program-inkjet-to-everest-ther
ACA Pacific

Rimage Trade-In Program - Inkjet-to-Everest Thermal Printing. Ends June 15th, 2012.

More details »
ARN Vendor Directory
Find vendors by name | category

iAsset is a channel management ecosystem that automates all major aspects of the entire sales,marketing and service process, including data tracking, integrated learning, knowledge management and product lifecycle management.