 |
|
DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY / OCTOBER 13, 2003: VOL. 2 NO. 41
|
Special Features:
NOVARTIS POWERS UP R&D WITH NEW
INTEL-BASED PC COMPUTING GRID
Intel and Novartis, a world leader in pharmaceuticals, announced Novartis
has
adopted an Intel Pentium 4 processor-powered PC Grid platform as a strategic
part of its 5-year plan for extending R&D capabilities. The PC refresh program
forms part of enhancements to the organization's IT strategy. These
enhancements include boosting computing power, strengthening R&D efficiencies
and supporting efforts to bring novel medicines to patients faster. Novartis
is also looking to apply the PC Grid infrastructure to mainstream
business-computing challenges.
Grids take advantage of computing resources in an up-to-date
infrastructure,
delivering additional performance at a fraction of the cost of purchasing,
deploying and managing additional systems. By capturing previously unused
resources, the Novartis Grid delivers an extra 5+ teraflops of computing
power. When combined with the productivity and performance gains from the
refreshed PC platform, the Grid will lead to savings of $200 million over
three years.
Novartis plans to upgrade a large portion of their corporate desktop PCs
across the company this year. In pharmaceutical research alone, 2,700 PCs have
been standardized to the Pentium 4 processor platform and linked to the high
performance Grid. This has enabled far greater research scope, the examination
of larger datasets with improved precision and better identification of the
increasing number of new drug targets. The new Intel platform improves
computational time, but not at the expense of precision, enabling Novartis
researchers to innovate better, faster and at lower cost -- gaining the
competitive edge.
The decoding of the human genome has transformed drug discovery and
molecular
targeting. Previously, there were 300 druggable targets; now there are 30,000.
Research is now focused on understanding the actions of these targets and what
molecules they may bind with, with tremendous opportunities to develop very
precise drugs that cure diseases instead of just treating symptoms.
"Our investment in Intel Pentium 4 Processors, with Hyper-Threading (HT)
Technology, to power the Grid network has enabled us to get maximum
productivity out of our IT systems and thereby accelerate the development of
life-saving new drugs," says Manuel Peitsch, head of informatics and knowledge
management for Novartis' Pharmaceutical Research. "The drug discovery process
relies fully on high performance computing to process the immense amount of
data involved."
"As a world leader in the pharmaceutical industry, Novartis recognizes the
importance of investment in a high performance PC infrastructure," said Erik
Steeb, director computing and solutions marketing group at Intel EMEA. "A
standardized and stable PC infrastructure drives down the TCO of each PC while
ensuring a robust platform capable of coping with demands from new and future
technologies. By refreshing its desktop platform to PCs powered by Pentium 4
processors, supporting HT Technology, Novartis has strengthened its
computational prowess to speed the discovery of new medicine."
Peter Sany, Novartis corporate CIO, commented, "Computing resources are a
key
driver of shortened timelines, facilitating Novartis' goal of bringing more
novel drugs to patients faster. We have projects we calculate would take 6
years on a single supercomputer. Today, the run time is 12 hours. Before, you
wouldn't bother starting such a process. Now, because of our Pentium 4
processor-powered Grid, it's completely practical and affordable."
Novartis already brings prescription medicines to market faster than the
industry norm, and in the last two years has had more drugs approved in key
markets than any of its competitors. Seeking to further enhance its
industry-leading development efforts, the company has added 1,000 researchers,
raised its R&D budget to $2.8 billion, and is opening a new, multi-million
dollar research headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.
About Intel Corporation
Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of
computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about
Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom.
|