The workings of most chips are governed by a clock and the data processing they do advances with each tick of that time-keeper.

BBC: Mistakes in silicon chips to help boost computer power

Service Metrics watched auction sites for three months around the clock, using data collection agents around the country running standard Netscape or IE browsers and a T1 connection.

CNN: Gavel down: Yahoo's auctions are the speediest

With 50 seismic vessels working around the clock industry-wide, this adds up to a total of around 12 petabytes of new data every year, according to Mr Walker.

ECONOMIST: Inside story