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| Sony's founding prospectus, written in 1946, states that Sony "shall focus on highly sophisticated technical products that have great usefulness in society." Since then, Sony has sought to inspire dreams and enjoyment by offering imaginative products and services derived from new technologies, as well as by offering myriad lifestyle options.
Today, increasingly advanced, innovative technologies evoke new potential, contributing to the realization of sustainable lifestyles never before envisioned and enabling Sony to address key issues of importance to society.
True to its DNA, Sony continues to address the challenge of realizing new potential through imaginative technologies, products and services and a spirit of innovation that focuses on contributing to society. |
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Cell Broadband Engine™ Technologies: Helping to Identify the Mechanics of Disease
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Cell Broadband Engine™ and Distributed Computing
Cell Broadband Engine™ (Cell/B.E.) on PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3™) is a powerful new microprocessor that achieves a computing speed approximately 10 times faster than that of a standard PC. Cell/B.E. facilitates the real-time processing of massive amounts of data, inviting a broad range of potential applications not only in next-generation computer entertainment systems and digital electronic products, but also in workstations for movie production and computer simulations in science and technology. Additionally, Cell/B.E. makes it possible to run multiple operating systems (OSs), meaning real-time OSs used in conventional PCs and workstations can run together, as can OSs used in digital consumer electronic products and computer entertainment systems.
Distributed computing is a technique for obtaining significant computing capacity by leveraging the capacity of multiple computers, thus eliminating the need for a dedicated supercomputer. This technique is used primarily by universities and research institutes. Calculations are divided into smaller units, i.e., packets, which are then distributed to participating computers. When the computers have finished processing the calculations, they send the data back. Accordingly, more computers on the network mean greater computing capacity.
With these technologies, PS3s connected to a network together act like a supercomputer. |
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Analyzing Protein Folding on PLAYSTATION®3
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Misfolded proteins in the human body are linked to a number of diseases, including Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and cancer. Analyzing protein folding to identify the causes of this phenomenon requires massive computing capabilities. Computer simulations are essential because the folding process is extremely complicated, but with an average PC one simulation would take about 30 years.
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| The screen of a PS3 running Folding@home™ |
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| Folding@home™ is a distributed computing program established by Stanford University to study protein folding. Participating computers are sent packets of complicated calculations over the Internet. These computers simultaneously process these packets of calculations, greatly reducing the time needed to complete the calculation. Once the computers have finished processing their packets, the resulting data is sent back over the Internet to the Stanford University server. |
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| Folding@home™: How does it work? |
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In March 2007, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. began offering PS3 owners a software application enabling them to donate capacity to Folding@home™. PS3s, backed by the tremendous computing capacity of Cell/B.E., are thus contributing to efforts to identify the mechanics of several diseases.
As of March 2007, approximately 200,000 PS3 users had registered to participate in Folding@home™. With the participation of PS3 users, donated computing capacity doubled in a few short months.
(As of May 2007) |
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| A Stakeholder's Voice
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Vijay S. Pande
Associate Professor of Chemistry and of Structural Biology,
Stanford University
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Opportunities in Medical Research
Simulation of biological and chemical processes plays an increasingly important role in today's medical science. Folding@home™, a distributed computing project, was established in October 2000 at Stanford University. It applies such simulation techniques to help provide a better understanding of protein folding, misfolding and related diseases. The massive amount of computing capacity needed for our research is provided by volunteers, who connect to the network and donate computing capacity. The project has enjoyed the support of more than one million computers since it began.
Sony gave owners of PLAYSTATION®3 systems the opportunity to join the project in March 2007. Within just one month, the donated computing capacity more than doubled, which gives our research a significant acceleration in the quest to understand and eventually develop cures for serious diseases.
The keys to success for initiatives like Folding@home™ are technical excellence and sustained volunteer contribution. We count on Sony and other industry partners to continue pushing the limits in these areas.
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FeliCa: Transforming Lifestyles
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| FeliCa*1, developed by Sony, is a contactless integrated circuit (IC) card technology that facilitates the exchange of information simply by passing a card over a reader/writer. As the name suggests, FeliCa—which stems from the word "felicity"—was designed to make daily life more enjoyable and convenient. Shipments of FeliCa cards began in 1996. The technology has been adopted for the electronic payment systems of public transportation systems and mobile phone services in Japan, Singapore, China, India and Thailand. In March 2007, cumulative shipments of IC chips for FeliCa reached 200 million units. |
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| Communication between a FeliCa card and a reader/writer is made possible by electromagnetic waves emitted by the reader/writer's antenna, which the FeliCa card picks up when it passes over the antenna, thereby enabling the reading and writing of data. Accordingly, the card does not need to carry a power source. Moreover, the processing of data transmitted between the card and the reader/writer, including secure encryption, is completed in approximately 0.1 seconds. |
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| FeliCa: How it Works |
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A high level of security
In addition to mutual authentication and the encryption of data that passes between a reader/writer and a FeliCa card, data is processed in a manner designed to prevent forgery. Thanks to such measures to enhance data pro-tection, FeliCa is attracting attention for applications requiring a high level of security, including payment and authentication systems. |
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Usability
FeliCa is a contactless technology, enabling transactions simply by passing the card over a reader, eliminating the need to retrieve the card from its case each time it is used, making it simple to use for people of any age, from children to seniors. FeliCa also allows the inclusion of a wide range of data on a single card. |
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Environmental consciousness
Data can be overwritten many times, meaning cards can be used repeatedly. Accordingly, the use of FeliCa cards in electronic ticketing for public transportation is growing rapidly, and is replacing traditional paper tickets. Sony also succeeded in the practical application of vegetable-based plastics to FeliCa cards. |
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Because FeliCa facilitates multiple applications on a single card, one card can be used to pay for trains, buses and other forms of public transportation, to make purchases using electronic money, and to act as an electronic employee ID or club membership card, and as a point card for merchants' loyalty programs. Osaifu-Keitai®*2 mobile phones with FeliCa technology incorporated can also be used to make purchases and otherwise substitute for a conventional wallet.
Going forward, Sony will continue to capitalize on the ease, convenience and safety of FeliCa technology to enhance a wide range of lifestyles. |
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*1 FeliCa is a contactless IC card technology developed by Sony Corporation. FeliCa is a trademark of Sony Corporation.
*2 Osaifu-Keitai® is a registered trademark of NTT DoCoMo, Inc. |
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| Electronic payment |
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| E-money |
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| Electronic ticketing |
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Electronic tickets for public
transportation |
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| Authentication |
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Electronic employee
and student ID cards |
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