supercomputer

The fastest type of computer. Supercomputers are very expensive and are employed for specialized applications that require immense amounts of mathematical calculations. For example, weather forecasting requires a supercomputer. Other uses of supercomputers include animated graphics, fluid dynamic calculations, nuclear energy research, and petroleum exploration.

The chief difference between a supercomputer and a mainframe is that a supercomputer channels all its power into executing a fewprograms as fast as possible, whereas a mainframe uses its power to execute many programs concurrently.

Why Supercomputing Matters

While they may not affect you today, such developments are important, because progress at the high-end impacts the low-end and midrange. It wasn't that long ago that the capabilities of today's smartphone equalled those of a supercomputer. ConsiderKnight's Corner, which Intel showed off at Supercomputing (SC) 11 in Seattle Washington earlier this month. Initially announced in June, Intel unveiled the chip in silicon at the computing show. Although an official general availability date has not yet been set, the chips have made it to silicon and were demoed. A single 22 nm chip delivers 1 teraflop of sustained double-precision performance. That's 1 trillion calculations per second. (If you're looking for a relative sense of size and speed, this infographicoffers a clear sense of scale.)

This is not the first time Intel has delivered a 1 Tflop system. Back in in 1997, it debuted ASCI Red at Sandia national Labs -- 9,298 Pentium 2 Xeon processors in servers spanning 72 cabinets consuming 800 Kw of power. Consider that the power of your workstation (or even your smartphone) is as powerful as your typical supercomputer was 15 years ago.

Times have indeed changed.