Well, it doesn't look like CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has produced any black holes (unless you count the stock markets), so the world can rest a little easier.
While it will be some time until we hear about the outcomes of the experiments to discover the state of matter at the beginning of time, it's nice to know that the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is employing state-of-the-art technology to keep things in check in case a black hole does accidentally form. According to reports (here and here) from ITPro, CERN is employing SOA-based software to monitor and manage potential Large Hadron Collider (LHC) emergencies.
CERN SonicMQ enterprise messaging systems from Progress Software to form the communications backbone of its Technical Infrastructure Monitoring (TIM) system, whih collects, evaluates, stores and distributes data about 2.1 million items every day from 150 different systems and 60,000 different measuring points.
The ESB unites disparate data and systems without hampering CERN’s research efforts by underpinning their ability to get systems back and up running as quickly as possible in the event of a fault. “It’s all about speed of detection and action – we can stop and restart systems in a matter of seconds with the software,” said Eric Lienard, CERN technical infrastructure manager.
As ITPro observes, CERN's Large Hadron Collider isn't just the largest experiment in history, "it's also a massive IT project linking hundreds of thousands of computers - and could change how we share and analyze data." The project is also employing a grid architecture to be able to support crushing demand from scientists all over the world for results of the experiment -- it involves 100,000 CPUs crunching 15 petabytes of data at hundreds of sites around the world.
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