The data center industry is remarkably innovative.  Given the massive demand for data center infrastructure to serve AI, the cloud, and the good ole’ company data center, we’re lucky that’s the case.   

Sometimes innovation can be fun, and lately we were reminded of one of the most creative computer projects that we’ve ever seen, an Air Force supercomputer constructed in 2010 known as the Condor Cluster.  

Located in Rome, New York, the Condor Cluster was created using 1,760 Sony PlayStation 3 consoles.  Instead of fueling the world’s most massive game of Grand Theft Auto IV, the supercomputer was constructed for the processing of satellite imagery, AI research, radar enhancement, pattern recognition, and other image processing.  

Instead of $10 million that it would have cost the Air Force to build the tool it needed utilizing traditional IT technology at the time, the Condor Cluster cost around a million bucks to create an equally useful one. 

Kudos to journalists Blake Stillwell for reminding us of this impressive technological achievement.  Read  Blake’s Military.com article on the Condor Cluster for the full story of how technological change led to the end of the program, and how the idea for it may have been inspired by, of all people, Sadaam Hussein.