The League of Supercomputers
Twice a year, every year, a list of the top 500 supercomputer is compiled. Currently IBM dominates this list, having 232 out of the top 500 computers. The number one computer, IBM’s Blue Gene/L Supercomputer, is used by the United States government to ensure the upkeep of it’s nuclear stockpile. The Blue Gene runs at a mind boggling rate of 478 Teraflops (478 trillion calculations per second), which is almost three times faster than any other machine on the list. Second place went to the Blue Gene/P Supercomputer, which is slated to operate at a Petaflop (1,000 trillion calculations per second) and more! Most of the supercomputers on the list are used for simulations- crashes, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. As the computers get faster, the simulations are allowed to become ever more accurate. Right now, supercomputers can calculate building by building results of a simulated earthquake. It will be interesting to see what potential supercomputers of the future will hold. The full article can be found at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7092339.stm
John Goldner