IBM has just announced a system composed of 65,536 processing units, capable of performing 280.6 trillion calculations per second, doubling the previous record of 136.8 teraflops, which was considered the fastest in the world set by Blue Gene/L.
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| Blue Gene/L |
Blue Gene/L first became the fastest supercomputer (70.7 teraflops) in the Top 500 rankings a year ago. The speed of the system is measured by the Linpack mathematical benchmark, but the organizers of Top 500 acknowledge that this is still not a perfected method.
Blue Gene is sold for approximately $2 million per rack containing 1,024 processing units, but IBM also offers rental access to Blue Gene and other supercomputers for those who do not wish to purchase the entire system.
Additionally, “Big Blue” has also launched another powerful yet lesser-known system called ASC Purple, with a speed of 100 teraflops. Both ASC and Blue Gene/L are priced at $290 million and will be used for analysis, nuclear weapons simulations, and other computing-related tasks. The term “purple” signifies “purple” – a blend of blue, red, and white. ASC Purple is designed to achieve the highest capabilities in the ASCI Red, White, and Blue supercomputer series. Initially, IBM planned to launch the system at the end of 2004 but postponed it in favor of a less expensive design.
The Power5 processing units in ASC Purple are more powerful than the Power chip versions of Blue Gene/L, and they have access to more memory for running complex simulations. However, Blue Gene/L consumes less energy and utilizes a set of five separate networks to connect the processing units, rather than a complex, bulky central switch.
T.N. (according to CNet)
