Ifremer opted to install KoriBlast in its client-server mode to enable scientists in its various centres to exploit the Institute's existing bioinformatic resources. Ifremer's calculation centre hosts an SGI Altix ICE super-calculator on which are installed major sets of sequence databanks that can be explored using the comparison software MPI-Blast. In order to enable the institute's scientists to make the most of these resources, Korilog installed the KoriBlast server. This is used as a gateway between the various concurrent sessions of the KoriBlast clients and the 2352 SGI calculator cores, and in a way that is fully transparent for the users.

The KoriBlast software has also been pre-configured for Ifremer with a view to sharing indexed versions of the sequence banks. These are prepared using Koriblast's Databank Manager, thus facilitating on-the-fly annotation of the MPI-Blast results produced by the calculator.

In this configuration, Ifremer scientists can avail of:

• user-friendly access to vast calculating power
• the possibility of exploring large-scale banks themselves
• automatic annotation of the Blast results
• the graphic and interactive infrastructure of the KoriBlast client for viewing and analyzing results

As well as use for Blast queries in general, the KoriBlast applications cover genomic monitoring of Pyrococcus abyssi and the analysis of bacterial genomes and metagenomes.

About Ifremer.

Ifremer is a public institution with an industrial and commercial nature, which conducts and promotes fundamental and applied research, investigations and technological and industrial development designed to know, assess and promote oceanic resources and enable them to be exploited sustainably, enhance surveillance methods, evolution forecasts, protection of the marine and coastal environment, and promote economic development of the marine world.

About Korilog.

Korilog is a bioinformatics company, offering software solutions to research laboratories, in the fields of integration, exploitation, management and viewing of biological sequence data. As such, Korilog offers turnkey software platforms (koriblast.com, koriviewer.com), and a range of services for customization of software modules. Fields of application cover namely the annotation and comparison of genomes and proteomes, checking of DNA chips, metagenomics and the exploration of metabolic networks.