Lavarand

Lavarand is a hardware random number generator designed and trademarked by Silicon Graphics (SGI) in 1996. The system operates by digitizing the chaotic patterns of warm wax blobs oozing inside an array of lava lamps. This data is then processed with a cryptographic hash function to produce a high-quality seed for a cryptographically-secure pseudorandom number generator (CSPRNG).

From 1997 to 2001, SGI ran a website that demonstrated the technology. Its visually distinct method made it a frequently cited example of entropy sourcing.

The concept was later revived and popularized by Cloudflare, which uses a wall of lava lamps in its office lobby as one component of its entropy-gathering system, the Wall of Entropy.

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