biology

Zego

Zego is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Zego rather than just read about it. In short: The ZEGO ("Zest to go") is a rackmount server platform built by Sony, targeted for the video post-production and broadcast markets. The platform is based on Sony's PlayStation 3 as it features both the Cell Processor as well as the RSX 'Reality Synthesizer'.

Key takeaways

Zego belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Zego to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Zego from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The ZEGO ("Zest to go") is a rackmount server platform built by Sony, targeted for the video post-production and broadcast markets. The platform is based on Sony's PlayStation 3 as it features both the Cell Processor as well as the RSX 'Reality Synthesizer'. It is aimed to greatly speed up postproduction work (in particular in the computationally extremely taxing 4K resolution), 3D rendering and video processing. In some respects it is rather similar to IBM's QS20/21/22 blades (such as used in the Roadrunner supercomputer that took the top spot in the Top500 in May 2008), although Sony seems to target the DCC (Digital Content Creation) markets rather than scientific like IBM, which can be seen by the inclusion of the RSX graphics processor in the ZEGO platform. ZEGO runs Fixstars's Yellow Dog Enterprise Linux, which was also Sony's favourite Linux distribution for the PlayStation 3.

Architecture The architecture is not identical to the PlayStation 3. One difference is that the BCU-100 has 1 GB XDR RAM instead of the PlayStation 3's 256 MB. Video RAM is missing in Sony's system diagrams, but it is listed as 256 MB (like the PlayStation 3) further down in the tech specs. The XDR memory is shared by both the Cell and RSX. Sony uses the SCC (Super Companion Chip) to handle I/O tasks (HDD, USB 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet and other unspecified I/O); the SCC has its own dedicated memory of 1 GB DDR2 as well as a Memory Extension Adapter connected via PCI Express that can hold up to 8 GB. Another option for the single PCI express slot is a Video Display Board with a DVI-I output. Further, the Cell in the BCU-100 offers the full 8 SPUs that Cell is manufactured with, as opposed to the 6 SPUs available in the PlayStation 3, which has one SPU disabled to improve manufacturing yields and one reserved for the system. This gives the BCU-100 an extra 33% potential CPU-power (or 51.2 GFLOPS more).

History Sony presented its first ZEGO product, the BCU-100, to the public at SIGGRAPH 2008 in mid-August. Sony plans to ship the BCU-100 by the end of 2008 and deliver it with the Mental Ray raytracer by Mental Images to speed up 3D rendering tasks and Houdini Batch by Side Effects Software. The company claims to be in talk with other software makers in the DCC field to port and optimize their software for the ZEGO platform. ZEGO is similar to a workstation based on the PlayStation 2 architecture called the GScube, which was also shown at Siggraph in the year 2000, and which, although used for visualization in a few movie projects, ultimately failed in the market. However, while the GScube only targeted realtime visualization in 1080p HD, ZEGOs target markets are much broader, encompassing for example physics simulation, final 3D rendering and video processing as well as visualization. It remains to be seen if ZEGO actually manages what the GScube was unable to do. The massively parallel design of the GScube, being not much more than 16 Graphics Synthesizer chips with dedicated RAM, inspired the design of the Cell processor itself with its 8 SPUs with dedicated RAM. As of August 2009 the device appears to have been discontinued. Searches on Sony.com and pro.sony.com for either Zego or BCU-100 return nothing but the year-old press release claiming the product would ship within a few months.

Technical specifications

BCU-100 1U rackmount unit 3.2 GHz Cell/B.E. CPU RSX (connected to Cell via a 20 GB/s up- and 15 GB/s downstream link) SCC (connected to Cell via a 5 GB/s link) 1 GB XDR RAM with ECC (Cell and RSX, 25.6 GB/s Bandwidth) 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM (SCC) 2x Gigabit Ethernet 3x USB 2.0 1x PCI Express 4-lane (hosts either the Memory Extension Adapter or the Video Display Board) 160 GB 3.5" SATA harddrive <330 Watts power consumption optional BDCU-EX1 Memory Extension Adapter with 8 GB RAM optional BKCU-VD1 Video Display Board with DVI-I (for using the BCU-100 as a Workstation)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Zego

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Zego claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Zego before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Zego ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Zego

In research: Zego appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Zego in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Zego is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cell BE architecture, Server hardware, Sony hardware, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Zego outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Zego in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Zego means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Zego out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Zego in simple terms?

Why does Zego matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Zego?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Zego.