2001: 75 000 internet users’ subscriptions

During the 2001 Telethon, the AFM and IBM made an appeal to internet users: “Make your PC's unused computational power available for research”. The goal was to perform the 1st proteome map. This scientific, technological and humane challenge was accepted with vitality: 75 000 internet users subscribed, billions of complex computations performed, 550 000 proteins mapped.

All this in less than two years, whereas it would have required more than 1170 years with a single computer! Each computer contributed on average 133 hours, totalling more than 10 million computing hours. Twenty-one IBM servers hosted all the results and data during the whole operation.

The proteome map and the data generated are stored and accessible on several websites such as IGBMC's, with the possibility of making individual requests, but also to connect to other genomic databases.
It is a genuine library to compare proteins from different species of the living world (animal, plant, human). It contains nearly 2.2 million files divided out into 17 000 folders.