It marked Japan's first test of "grid computing" -- where linked computers share small parts of mammoth calculations -- and meant sales of the processing power would go ahead by next March, the company said.

"The project went just according to plan," said NTT Data spokesman Yoshinori Munekata. "We are already in talks with several customers for the product."

In the test that ended in April, the company linked 12,206 random computer users found through the Internet who were willing to download a program onto their systems that would share the computing burden of two scientific projects.

One sought to identify repeated patterns in the human genome for use in a study of diseases' relation to genes, while the other analysed the light-transmitting ability of different materials for a future light-based computer.

NTT Data, a subsidiary of telecoms giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., said its grid computing service would be priced at about two million to three million yen (16,950-25,400 dollars) for every 100 computers needed.

The company would install its system by linking clients' computers on a higher-speed Intranet.

Marketing for random user-based Internet grid computing was still about two years away, Munekata said, adding that prospective clients were mostly research institutes and universities.

SPACE.WIRE