IBM installs fastest supercomputer

System will help simulate performance of nuclear weapons

IBM has implemented a new supercomputer that performs at more than double the speed of its predecessor.

The new Blue Gene/L system has reached speeds of 280.6 trillion operations per second in tests, compared with a figure of 136.8 trillion for the previous version that topped the world supercomputing league in June.

The IBM machine, along with a slower version dubbed Purple, was installed at the US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) last week.

While supercomputers are typically used to model everything from the weather to the human brain (Computing, 9 June), this system will simulate the performance of nuclear weapons, reducing the need for underground testing.

‘The unprecedented computing power of these two supercomputers is more critical than ever to meet the time-urgent issues related to maintaining our nation’s ageing nuclear stockpile without testing,’ said NNSA administrator Linton Brooks.

The machine, housed at a Californian lab, is primarily intended for stockpile science molecular dynamics and turbulence calculations, helping address critical problems of materials ageing. It is expected to head the latest Top500 supercomputer list.