Japan reveals world's fastest Supercomputer (8.2 Petaflops !!)

[Vehl]

Japanese supercomputer 'K' is world's fastest



A new Japanese supercomputer called "K" is being hailed as the world's fastest - three times more powerful than the previous holder of the title. K is built by the Japanese computer firm Fujitsu, based in Kobe's Riken Advanced Institute for Computational Science. It is capable of making 8.2 quadrillion (a quadrillion is 1 followed by 15 zeroes) calculations per second - or, in computer jargon, 8.2 petaflops.

The previous fastest machine was the Chinese computer Tianhe-1A, which was clocked at 2.507 petaflops.

K's performance is equivalent to one million linked desktop computers, according to Prof Dongarra, or more than its five closest competitors combined. It consists of 672 cabinets stuffed with circuit-boards, and its creators plan to increase that to 800 in the coming months. It uses enough energy to power nearly 10,000 homes and costs $10 million (£6.2 million) annually to run.

more here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8586655/Japa...

This is awesome news! I was waiting for the Japanese to come up with such a machine the moment I heard last year that the Chinese have taken the top supercomputer spot, and they did not disappoint me. Congratulations to all the scientists and engineers who made this possible. Such machines will further scientific development and have tangle positive effects on human development much more than any war ever could.

On a related note, about a month ago India announced that it had initiated the development of a supercomputer that will be the first one to beat the Exaflop mark. The stated goal is 132 exaflops, or in other words a machine 50000 times faster than the Chinese Tianhe-1. The supercomputer is expected to be completed by 2017

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
^^ thread on that machine.


The positive side of such a competition, of countries trying to outdo each other in this field is that the net beneficiaries will be humans. As I said before..this beats the hell out of trying to one-up each other in the construction of weapons of war.