Progeniq Launches Universal Version of Accelerated Bioinformatics

Progeniq today announced a Universal version of its third generation BioBoost bioinformatics data processing accelerator for Mac OS X version 10.4 "Tiger". BioBoost can now harness the power of Intel-based Macs to make commonly used bioinformatics applications, such as Pairwise and Multiple Sequence Alignment, up to 10x-50x faster than a typical processor. "The BioBoost accelerator is a major milestone in bringing new generation computing technologies to the life sciences industry at mass-market cost," said Darran Nathan, Progeniq's Chief Executive Officer. "This is the start of a whole new wave in computing that promises to drastically cut processing time for compute-intensive applications across industries, providing flexible supercomputer-level processing power to end-users at amazingly affordable prices." "Apple has a very strong presence across the life sciences field, and researchers globally are increasingly choosing the power, ease of use and stability of Mac OS X to drive their work," said Ron Okamoto, Apple's vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. "We're thrilled to see a Universal version of BioBoost that enhances the bioinformatics data processing capability of Intel-based Macs so users can run computationally intensive calculations significantly faster." BioBoost accelerators provide hardware processing for the most computationally intensive applications. By utilizing Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology, the processor is able to 'rewire' itself on the fly according to the application that needs to be accelerated. This allows a single hardware accelerator to speed up any number of supported applications. The Universal version of BioBoost allows applications to run on both PowerPC and Intel-based Macs. Adding BioBoost removes computational bottlenecks and optimizes the entire workflow providing final results faster. The Progeniq BioBoost is available for immediate shipment.