IBM is one of a group of vendors that plans to announce on Wednesday that they're harnessing grid computing in an attempt to find a treatment for smallpox after infection. IBM, Accelrys, and United Devices will provide technology for a global research effort.

The grid will link up idle PCs that will work on the problem during idle time when a screensaver would normally be running. The effort is similar to the SETI@home project, as well as anthrax- and cancer-research projects. Individuals can participate by downloading software from www.grid.org.

United Devices, a grid computing company, is coordinating the project. IBM is providing infrastructure including eServer p690s running DB2 database software handling 15 million SQL queries daily from about 2 million PCs. Accelrys is providing life-sciences software.

Results from the Smallpox Research Grid Project will be delivered to the United States Department of Defense.

There is currently no specific treatment for smallpox after infection, and the only prevention is vaccination, the vendors say. Routine inoculation was discontinued following the World Health Organization effort to eradicate the disease.

Research for the new treatment will be led by researchers at Oxford and Essex Universities in the United Kingdom and smallpox experts at the Robarts Research Institute, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and the University of Western Ontario.