World’s Fastest Computer

IBM’s Sequoia Supercomputer Takes Title of World’s Fastest:

 

IBM Sequoia is a petascale Blue Gene/Q supercomputer constructed by IBM for the National Nuclear Security Administration as part of the Advanced Simulation and Computing Program (ASC). It was delivered to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in 2011 and was fully deployed in June 2012.





On 14 June 2012, the TOP500 Project Committee announced that Sequoia replaced the K computer as the world's fastest supercomputer, with a LINPACK performance of 16.32 petaflops, 55% faster than the K computer's 10.51 petaflops, using 123% more sockets than the K computer's 705,024 sockets. Sequoia is also more energy efficient, as it consumes 7.9 MW, 37% less than the K computer's 12.6 MW.

The entire supercomputer runs on Linux, with Compute Node Linux running on over 98,000 nodes, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux running on 768 I/O nodes that are connected to the filesystem.

For the first time in two years, the world’s fastest supercomputer is here in the States. Knocking Fujitsu’s K Computer (repping Japan) to second place, IBM’s Sequoia is now the fastest computer on the face of the Earth, capable of calculating equations that would have taken three days for a 1993 supercomputer in less than a second. The unparalleled processing power of this beast is to be turned toward simulations that aim to extend the life of older nuclear weapons, helping to eliminate the need for actual tests.

The Sequoia is 1.5 times faster than Japan’s K Computer and uses over 1.5 million processors whereas the K Computer uses around half that amount. Even with the extra processors, Sequia is markedly more efficient than its Japanese rival, requiring only 7.9 megawatts to the K Computer’s 12.6. All in all, Sequoia is 273,930 times faster than its ancestor, the CM-5/1024 designed by Thinking Machines, and can do in an hour what 6.7 billion people with hand calculators would need 320 solid years (no breaks) to accomplish.

India is planning to built a super fast computer than IBM`s Sequoia.