Monday, May 24, 2010

Convey Computer Hails Genomics Search Record

Richardson, Texas-based Convey Computer, a developer of hybrid-core computers which used hardware to accelerate software processing, reported today that it has demonstrated an implementation of a genomics analysis algorithm, the Smith-Waterman algorithm, which is a 172 times faster than conventional software. Smith-Waterman is an algorithm used to analyze DNA and protein sequences for similarity matching. Convey's hardware uses Intel Xeon processor and Xilinx FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays) to implement and speed up software operations. The firm said its hardware has started to be adopted by the life science research industry, and is being used at the University of South Carolina and Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech. Convey is backed by Braemar Energy Ventures, CenterPoint Ventures, Intel Capital, InterWest Partners, Rho Ventures, and Xilinx.