IBM delivers fastest unclassified 3.8 Tflop/s supercomputerHeidelberg 21 June 2001 IBM has delivered the world's most powerful unclassified supercomputer, which will conduct the basic scientific research that may lead to breakthroughs in fuel-efficient automobiles. The announcement came as IBM captured the number one ranking on an independent list of the world's fastest computers, issued at the Supercomputing 2001 Conference in Heidelberg, Germany.
The top unclassified machine, capable of a theoretical peak of 3.8 Tflop/s, is an IBM supercomputer that will be used by the
National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) in California for a
wide range of sophisticated research projects, such as simulating internal
engine combustion. This research may lead to automobile engines that consume
less gasoline and emit fewer pollutants. Scientists believe such next-generation
engines could result in annual savings of more than $30 billion in
energy-related costs in the United States alone.
The IBM machine at NERSC is the second most powerful supercomputer in the world,
after IBM's classified ASCI White system.
The NERSC announcement highlights IBM's dominance of The TOP500 list,
published today by researchers at the University of Tennessee and the University
of Mannheim in Germany.
IBM has 201 systems on the list, more than any other vendor
and an increase of 40 percent from one year ago.
IBM has the two most powerful supercomputers on the list --
the classified ASCI White at Lawrence Livermore National Lab,
and the unclassified NERSC machine; as well as the most
powerful Linux-based supercomputers - 1024 processor systems
at Shell and the National Center for Supercomputing
Applications.
IBM systems on the list account for a total of more than 46
Tflop/s of processing
power.
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