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US Government Upgrades RAM
Deep Throat writes "Techworld has the scoop on a new super-sized RAM disk that the US government has just bought for a few million dollars in order to speed up searching through huge databases. It's 2.5TB! The VP of the company that made it says it is for Washington DC and searching databases but won't say who. Techworld explains why it reckons it's the Department of Homeland Security searching in the NSA and Pentagon databases for terrorists. And apparently the government is 'very happy' with the purchase and thinking about getting more."
Imagine a beowulf cluster of those things.
Still not as fast as if they'd make the info public domain and use google :)
I remember when legal used to mean lawful, now it means some kind of loophole. - Leo Kessler
Usually the US Government rams upgrades. Iraq, Haiti, next?
in order to speed up searching through huge database
Have they consulted Google?
The list price of the system, which is made up from 40 RamSan 320 units, reviewed here, is $4.7million
Purchased from Dell's website that would have been....$12.5 million?
They're upgrading in time for Longhorns release you insensitive clod!
I just hope they rememebr to use the USB2.0 for their new keychain disk; access time might be horrible otherwise...
My guess is that they want to play Doom3 with a fps higher than 5 fps.
Is Unreal Doomed
Wonder if they got hold of an early copy of Doom 3.
They really just needed it to beta test Longhorn.
"2.5 TB ought to be enough for anybody."
Heck, that might even be enough to boot Longhorn!
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
After weeks of seeing overblown headlines on slashdot (IE, Bill Gates runs over a squirel on the way to work, headline reads "Bill Gates Murders Animals as part of his Job!!!"), it's good to see one that is, well, underblown. 2.5TB is a bit more than a 'RAM upgrade'
I would feel less threatened if it was in the hands of the DHS rather than the IRS.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
...right after their purchases of thousands of those little X10 spy cameras that you can mount just about anywhere! Oops, said too much, gotta go before-------------
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
I just hope they didn't get it at Fry's. God help them if they've got to return it.
"Prepare for the worst - hope for the best."
oh man, and I thought I was the only one with a collection THAT big.
I wonder if they also use the 'evil' bit.
the 'terrorist bit'? Thats the one right next to the evil bit, right?
=)
"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." - Thomas Jefferson
Not even about beowulf clusters? What's the world coming to!
A certain three letter agency
NSA, CIA, or the Department of FUD?
Did your compensation include Xena tapes and Hot Pockets?
I hear that now it can process over nine tax returns per day.
This is what's going through the mind of someone at redmond right now...
"With that much ram, I won't have to worry about fixing the memory leaks!"
They're using it to store ripped DVDs! It's an outrage! They're stealing the bread from the mouths of Julia Roberts and Steven Seagal!
How are they going to save the data if the power goes out? That's a lot of data to store on hard copies.
Of course, possible power outages were considered before the system was purchased. To prevent the loss of information, they hired 35,000 people to watch console screens and transcribe the data from the screen onto legal pads 24x7.
-- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
I'd like a beowulf cluster of this thing's fucking cooling fans.
Yeah, I have one of these things too. It really speeds up my builds.
I don't need no stinkin' sig!
>
> If it was for the DHS or NSA you would not have heard about the purchase.
You're both wrong. It's probably just some bureaucrat who happened to have $4.7M to spend before the end of the fiscal year. Half an hour ago he saw a Slashdot article titled "Can Software Kill?", and he said "Hey, I'm from the Government, and I'm here to find out!"
Now checking 2,748,779,069.440 bytes of memory, please wait.....
Your opinions have been noted, citizen. Please report to the nearest termination booth immediately. The Computer is your *friend*, citizen. -The Computer
-1, "1337" speak
Or else the Ministry of Information may just be looking for a Mr. Buttle rather than the Mr. Tuttle they really want to find.
running memtest on this.
Nice, now half of Bush's porn collection will be instantly viewable. Next up you'll see a purchase for 1000 OLED displays to simulcast all his feeds on.
Everything? Damn thats a lotta quick always available pr0n then.
...1-800-MAGNETS reported a very large order from an undisclosed source for very high-powered magnets...
+1 Insightful, -1 Troll. What can I say, I'm an Insightful Troll.
HOLY SHIT!
In 15 years (or less) people will have this much data on their Palm Pilot.
And somehow, my wife will still be able to fill it up with MP3's.
Ya...
/. Headline: "In compensation for NSA making 2.5TB of fast access database of MP3's RIAA has been given permission to use the terminal for their searches for 6hours a day free of charge for it's lifetime and $5 an hour after that..." click for details
They'll be renting it out to use for their EVIL MP3 sharer searches.
SELECT * FROM tblNSA WHERE usLivingIn = "true" AND ethnicity = "arab"
SELECT * FROM tblCIA WHERE ss = "xxxxxxxxx" AND surname = "Kerry" AND dirt = "true"
SELECT * FROM tblFBI WHERE student = "true" AND politicalID = "left" ORDER BY antiwar
UPDATE tblTEXASAF SET duty_fulfilled = "true" WHERE ss = "xxxxxxxx" AND surname = "Bush"
there are really only 3 states, evil, not evil, and ashcroft.
(yeah, that was a stab. figure it out..)
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
Given the new cap limits and surcharges alot of american broadband connections have impossed and increased average speed of connections. It would make only perfect sence to have the fastest spamming maching possible. Why - more spam's, more communications infrastructure utiliased the more money changing hands and...more tax's paid. There is the added bonus of not having to find out what people want and elling them. End result is a small database that fits on a PDA were FBA/NSA can instantly know if somebody is a terroist/pervert or simpsons fan. So for there faster database they generate more tax's, more comms infrastructure intilisation and a easier to manage personel details database. Lets not forget the growth in IT stocks thru the growing spam prevention markets. :>
Either that or thats a heck of an MP3 player the presedent has there.
This is to find the Iraqi WMD's, of course. And also, to find the traitor who outed Valerie Plame.
On a different note, OJ has ordered one of these for himself, to help with the search for the real killers.
Mr Shapiro
Actually this article sounds pretty factual to me. I am a civil servant in the Dept. of Homeland Security. We have a whole bunch of these grey plastic boxes that have rack mount computers in them lining the hallways of one of the floors in our headquarters that each have 2.5 TB of storage one them, according to the label. No one really knows what they do, or at least those who do know won't say anything, but rumor has it they have something to do with financial crimes. Ecivres Terces. ---
Q.
Insert Signature Here
"Imagine a RAID5 of these!"
How long will it take until Dell starts shipping their standard PCs with that much RAM? Guesses?
Wow 2.5TB of RAM, they must be running the new Beta of Windows Longhorn!
All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.