Re: [iwar] Saddam and the PS2
From: Michael Wilson
To: 'iwar@egroups.com'
From: partners@7pillars.com
To: iwar@egroups.com
Tue, 19 Dec 2000 14:25:25 -0800 (PST)
fc Tue Dec 19 14:26:08 2000
Received: from 207.222.214.225
by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.1.0)
for fc@localhost (single-drop); Tue, 19 Dec 2000 14:26:08 -0800 (PST)
Received: by multi33.netcomi.com for fc
(with Netcom Interactive pop3d (v1.21.1 1998/05/07) Tue Dec 19 22:21:50 2000)
X-From_: partners@7pillars.com Tue Dec 19 16:21:25 2000
Received: from c3.egroups.com (c3.egroups.com [208.50.99.225]) by multi33.netcomi.com (8.8.5/8.7.4) with SMTP id QAA23350 for ; Tue, 19 Dec 2000 16:21:23 -0600
X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-830-977264732-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com
Received: from [10.1.4.54] by c3.egroups.com with NNFMP; 19 Dec 2000 22:25:37 -0000
X-Sender: partners@7pillars.com
X-Apparently-To: iwar@egroups.com
Received: (EGP: mail-6_3_1_3); 19 Dec 2000 22:25:32 -0000
Received: (qmail 9950 invoked from network); 19 Dec 2000 22:25:31 -0000
Received: from unknown (10.1.10.27) by l8.egroups.com with QMQP; 19 Dec 2000 22:25:31 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO sirius.infonex.com) (216.34.245.2) by mta2 with SMTP; 19 Dec 2000 22:25:31 -0000
Received: from localhost (partners@localhost) by sirius.infonex.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) with SMTP id OAA10465 for ; Tue, 19 Dec 2000 14:25:29 -0800 (PST)
X-Authentication-Warning: sirius.infonex.com: partners owned process doing -bs
X-Sender: partners@sirius.infonex.com
To: "'iwar@egroups.com'"
In-Reply-To:
Message-ID:
From: Michael Wilson
MIME-Version: 1.0
Mailing-List: list iwar@egroups.com; contact iwar-owner@egroups.com
Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@egroups.com
Precedence: bulk
List-Unsubscribe:
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2000 14:25:25 -0800 (PST)
Reply-To: iwar@egroups.com
Subject: Re: [iwar] Saddam and the PS2
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Actually, there are a number of primary issues with the PS2 that should be =
of
concern in defense circles (I've been tracking the PS2 since the announceme=
nt,
so this comes from my own personal assessment):
- The raw processing power is impressive, at the 'control' level of most ex=
port
agreements;
- The signal processing built in to handle modeling has applications from W=
MDs
through cryptanalysis;
- At ~70M polygons per second, you can handle significant realtime 3D (whet=
her
they have access to the intelligence and image resources necessary is anoth=
er
thing altogether) for unmanned vehicles, but more importantly, for simulati=
on
and training purposes (since they can't get their own remaining birds into =
the
air);
- Simulations related to weapons design (think: SCUD improvement) are also
possible; this isn't just technical improvements, but even down to camoufla=
ge
(see the IMINT reference above);
- Sony has also built PS2 farms--those not familiar with 3D work might not
understand the utility, but clusters of PS2s handling rendering are pretty
attractive to a lot of 'new media' efforts, so that's going to be a signifi=
cant
market. Those clusters make all of the above even more powerful.
The good news:
- The PS2 is a bitch to code, even with full technical support;
- In a comcon (completely, continually) world, location of this sort of
computing resource is meaningless; you could park the boxen in a non-export
restricted country and get plenty of utility;
- Utilization of this sort of technology for C2 systems (and the reason I'v=
e
been tracking the issue myself is that I could use the PS2 as the ultimate =
thin
client) is non-trivial--AKA, it's going to take some work;
- Massive parallel, massively distributed processing is beyond the technica=
l
competence of most programmers (feel free to bitch at me, and we can get in=
to
long discussions about data v. program parallelism, and why most coders can
hack real parallel implementations), so they'll have to wait for someone el=
se
to solve the problem and make a COTS (commercial off the shelf) solution.
MW
On Tue, 19 Dec 2000, St. Clair, James wrote:
> Why Iraq's buying up=20
> Sony PlayStation 2s=20
> Intelligence experts fear games=20
> bundled for military applications=20
>=20
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
---
> ----
>=20
> By Joseph Farah
> =A9 2000 WorldNetDaily.com=20
>=20
> Many American kids may be disappointed on Christmas morning because the S=
ony
> PlayStation 2 they wanted wound up in Iraq.=20
> Both the U.S. Customs Service and the FBI are investigating the apparent
> transfer of large numbers of Sony PlayStation 2s to Iraq, according to
> military intelligence sources.=20
>=20
> A secret Defense Intelligence Agency report states that as many as 4,000 =
of
> the popular video game units have been purchased in the United States and
> shipped to Iraq in the last two to three months.=20
>=20
> What gives? Does Saddam Hussein have an extraordinarily long Christmas
> shopping list? And why would U.S. military and intelligence officials be
> concerned about such a transfer?=20
>=20
> Two government agencies are investigating the purchases because the
> PlayStations can be bundled together into a sort of crude super-computer =
and
> used for a variety of military applications, say intelligence sources.=20
>=20
> "Most Americans don't realize that each PlayStation unit contains a 32-bi=
t
> CPU -- every bit as powerful as the processor found in most desktop and
> laptop computers," said one military intelligence officer who declined to=
be
> identified. "Beyond that,=20
>=20
>=20
> ------------------
> http://all.net/
>=20
-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9699/1/_/595019/_/977264733/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->
------------------
http://all.net/