IBM has announced a cross-company partnership that will combine their IBM mainframes with the beefy cell broadband engine processors from Sony, creating a huge network of computers that can take over the world. At the very least, this coupling will allow game developers and web developers to push servers farther, giving users, consumers, and gamers a new era of online communities (1000 vs 1000 Battlefield anyone?).

As online environments increasingly incorporate aspects of virtual reality — including 3D graphics and lifelike, real-time interaction among many simultaneous users — companies of all types will need a computing platform that can handle a broad spectrum of demanding performance and security requirements,” said Jim Stallings, general manager, IBM System z. “To serve this market, the Cell/B.E. processor is the perfect complement to the mainframe, the only server designed to handle millions of simultaneous users.

The full press release from IBM, copied and cited for your reading pleasure, can be found inside:
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