▁table ▁segment ation , ▁computation ▁parallel ization , ▁and ▁database ▁segment ation ▁( partition ). ▁Dat ab ases ▁are ▁split ▁into ▁equal ▁s ized ▁pieces ▁and ▁stored ▁locally ▁on ▁each ▁node . ▁Each ▁query ▁is ▁run ▁on ▁all ▁nodes ▁in ▁parallel ▁and ▁the ▁result ant ▁B LA ST ▁output ▁files ▁from ▁all ▁nodes ▁merged ▁to ▁yield ▁the ▁final ▁output . ▁Specific ▁implementations ▁include ▁M PI blast , ▁Scala B LA ST , ▁DC B LA ST ▁and ▁so ▁on . ▁ ▁Program ▁ ▁The ▁B LA ST ▁program ▁can ▁either ▁be ▁downloaded ▁and ▁run ▁as ▁a ▁command - line ▁utility ▁" blast all " ▁or ▁accessed ▁for ▁free ▁over ▁the ▁web . ▁The ▁B LA ST ▁web ▁server , ▁hosted ▁by ▁the ▁NC BI , ▁allows ▁anyone ▁with ▁a ▁web ▁browser ▁to ▁perform ▁similarity ▁searches ▁against ▁constantly ▁updated ▁databases ▁of ▁prote ins ▁and ▁DNA ▁that ▁include ▁most ▁of ▁the ▁newly ▁sequ enced ▁organ isms . ▁ ▁The ▁B LA ST ▁program ▁is ▁based ▁on ▁an ▁open - source ▁format , ▁giving ▁everyone ▁access ▁to ▁it ▁and ▁en abling ▁them ▁to ▁have ▁the ▁ability ▁to ▁change ▁the ▁program ▁code . ▁This ▁has ▁led ▁to ▁the ▁creation ▁of ▁several ▁B LA ST ▁" sp in - offs ". ▁ ▁There ▁are ▁now ▁a ▁hand ful ▁of ▁different ▁B LA ST ▁programs ▁available , ▁which ▁can ▁be ▁used ▁depending ▁on ▁what ▁one ▁is ▁attempting ▁to ▁do ▁and ▁what ▁they ▁are ▁working ▁with . ▁These ▁different ▁programs ▁vary ▁in ▁query ▁sequence ▁input , ▁the ▁database ▁being ▁searched