Scientists Develop Fastest Computer (mind boggling!)

[Rage for Order]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080609/ap_on_go_ot/fastest_computer;_ylt=Ao7l204MFFOG_pGQc.zV3OCs0NUE

Scientists unveiled the world's fastest supercomputer on Monday, a $100 million machine that for the first time has performed 1,000 trillion calculations per second in a sustained exercise. The technology breakthrough was accomplished by engineers from the Los Alamos National Laboratory and IBM Corp. on a computer to be used primarily on nuclear weapons work, including simulating nuclear explosions.

The computer, named Roadrunner, is twice as fast as IBM's Blue Gene system at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which itself is three times faster than any of the world's other supercomputers, according to IBM.

To put the computer's speed in perspective, it has roughly the computing power of 100,000 of today's most powerful laptops stacked 1.5 miles high, according to IBM. Or, if each of the world's 6 billion people worked on hand-held computers for 24 hours a day, it would take them 46 years to do what the Roadrunner computer can do in a single day.

Michael Anastasio, director of the Los Alamos lab, said that for the first six months the computer will be used in unclassified work including activities not related to the weapons program. After that, about three-fourths of the work will involve weapons and other classified government activities.

Anastasio said the computer, in its unclassified applications, is expected to be used not only by Los Alamos scientists but others as well. He said there can be broad applications such as helping to develop a vaccine for the HIV virus, examine the chemistry in the production of cellulosic ethanol, or to understand the origins of the universe.

More at the link

I can't even fathom how much 1,000 TRILLION is! That's the kind of number usually associated with distances in the universe, and is so abstract that I have a hard time wrapping my (admittedly feeble) mind around it. Pretty amazing stuff.

On edit: I notice they managed to squeeze one of my pet peeves into the news story. Doesn't HIV stand for Human Immunodeficiency Virus? If so, aren't they saying "...a vaccine for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus" virus? Ranks right up there with ATM machine, i.e. Automated Teller Machine machine. :eyes:

[BlooInBloo]

1. mmm.... modeling.... monte carlo.... large systems of nonlinear PDEs.... woot!

:rofl:

[rurallib]

2. Isn't 1000 trillion the same as a quadrillion?

even with all that computing power watching the nuclear arsenal, the air force was able to load 'em up and send them cross country.

Maybe it is a brazillion?

[Rage for Order]

3. No, I don't think so

I'm pretty sure the computer is an American :rofl:

[BlooInBloo]

4. Other way 'round.

[rurallib]

5. ?

[BlooInBloo]

6. Whoa - maybe I'm dyslexic - lol! nevermind!

[bemildred]

7. 1,000,000,000,000,000.

And hugely parallel in architecture, I would wager.

[bluesbassman]

8. How much is 1000 trillion? Hmmm, let's see....

1000 trillion. I believe that's the amount of debt the Bush Family Evil Empire has saddled our great grandchildren's great grandchildren with.:mad:

[Speck Tater]

9. Look at it this way

Imagine an accountant performing one operation on a calculator every second. It would take him 31,688 years, working non-stop, 24/7, without breaks, to do 1,000 trillion calculations.

If he wanted to work normal eight hour days, with weekends off, then this computer, in ONE SECOND, would do as much work as the accountant working for a mere 133,547 years.

Talk about leverage! 133 thousand years of human calculation labor in one second!

[galledgoblin]

10. "to be used primarily on nuclear weapons work"

what a waste...

[Gabi Hayes]

11. they'll never find one this fast: