Posted on 06/14/2005 11:19:27 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
IBM has just switched on the biggest number-crunching beast in private industry. Located at Big Blue's Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., the new computer can spit out more than 91 trillion calculations a second. Yes, you read that right: 91 trillion calculations a second, or 91 teraflops, in industry jargon.
This incredible speed ranks it as the world's second-fastest supercomputer. The only speedier machine is the mammoth, 367-teraflops system that IBM ( ) is installing at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for research on nuclear weapons. Both are based on IBM's innovative BlueGene/L architecture. However, another IBM computer, now also being installed at Lawrence Livermore, will edge into the No. 2 slot by a slim margin later this year. (For a list of the world's current and upcoming speedsters, see BusinessWeek's Top 25 Supercomputers.)
LINING UP. What sort of research needs such souped-up computers? A lot of today's problems in engineering and science. For example, in chemistry and physics issues abound that would keep every computer in the world grinding away for centuries. And aerospace, automotive, and biotechnology researchers know of problems so tough that they would take decades to solve. Obviously, nobody bothers to try. Not yet, anyhow.
For its new 91-teraflops monster -- dubbed Watson Blue Gene, or BGW for short -- IBM has plenty of down-to-earth work to keep it busy. Untangling the riddle of how proteins fold to work their magic in the human body is the initial target. Two others: probing new frontiers in semiconductor physics and learning to harness nanotechnology for tomorrow's chips and materials.
IBM will also make BGW available to outside researchers. Under a novel Energy Dept. program called INCITE
(Excerpt) Read more at businessweek.com ...
Speedy computers have become indispensable to new breakthroughs in science, engineering, and business. A worldwide race is under way to build ever-faster machines for tackling ever-tougher problems. To keep tabs on this competition, BusinessWeek Online will regularly update this list of the top teracrunchers
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| Rank | Location and User | Computer (vendor) | Peak Speed teraflops* |
| ** | U.S.: Lawrence Livermore Lab | BlueGene/L (IBM) | 367 |
| 1 | U.S.: Lawrence Livermore Lab | BlueGene/L (IBM) | 183.5 |
| ** | U.S.: Lawrence Livermore Lab | ASCI Purple (IBM) | 93.4 |
| 2 | U.S.: IBM Watson Research | BGW (IBM) | 91 |
The USA is leading!
Nice topic Ernest. Possible Mac ping, SM.
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