Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line has announced its support of the Folding @ Home Project (FAH), dedicating its unused computing power to help researchers find a cure for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
As the first cruise line to officially participate in this innovative project, Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line is calling on its industry partners and peers to lend their own resources, joining the fight against COVID-19. according to a press release.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented global impact, and when we learned about the unique Folding @ Home initiative, we immediately knew we had to help,” said Oneil Khosa, CEO of Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line. “We have an enormous amount of idle computing power at hand, given our ships are currently restricted from their normal operations, and this program gives us a way to utilize those resources, helping researchers who are working around the clock to find a coronavirus cure. We’re proud to be part of this project, and we are asking our industry partners and peers to commit their resources to the effort, so we can help save lives, most importantly, while also putting the tourism industry on a path to recovery.”
Folding @ Home is a distributed computing project that helps researchers conduct simulations to analyze the protein folding process and movements in various diseases, including COVID-19. Through the project, scientists can use donated computing power from anywhere in the world to run simulations, study the virus, and find a vaccine. The software is free and available to download for Windows, Mac, and Linux, and the more computers donated to the cause, the more simulations scientists can run.
Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line joined the FAH project in early April and has donated computer resources from its offices, as well as Grand Classica and Grand Celebration. While the cruise line’s contributions have already made an impact, researchers need access to more computing power to find a cure.
“Now more than ever, the travel industry needs to band together and donate our resources to help researchers find a vaccine and successfully end this pandemic,” added Khosa.
