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Japanese supercomputer is fastest in world

11 Comments

A supercomputer developed by RIKEN and Fujitsu was named the fastest in the world Monday at the 26th International Supercomputing Conference in Hamburg, Germany. This ranking is based on a performance measurement of the "K computer," currently under their joint development in Kobe.

The top-ranked K computer system, currently in the configuration stage, has 672 computer racks equipped with a current total of 68,544 CPUs. This system achieved the world's best LINPACK benchmark performance of 8.162 petaflops (quadrillion floating-point operations per second), to place it at the head of the list. In addition, the system has recorded high standards with a computing efficiency ratio of 93.0%.

RIKEN and Fujitsu have been working together to develop the K computer, with the aim of beginning shared use by November 2012, as a part of the High-Performance Computing Infrastructure (HPCI) initiative led by Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The K computer will be comprised of over 800 computer racks -- each equipped with ultrafast and energy-efficient CPUs -- that access into a network capable of an immense amount of interconnectivity. The supercomputer system brings together leading-edge technologies for high performance and high reliability.

To test the system's performance at the configuration stage, the K computer's processing speed was measured by the LINPACK benchmark program, placing it on the 37th TOP500 ranking of the world's fastest supercomputers. The TOP500 ranking list began in 1993 and is updated twice a year in June and November.

The LINPACK benchmark program, running on the part of the system that employs 68,544 CPUs installed on the K computer being configured, recorded the world's top performance of 8.162 petaflops. This gave it the No. 1 position on the TOP500 list.

Moreover, for one of the world's largest supercomputers, it achieved an extraordinarily high computing efficiency ratio of 93%. This achievement is made possible by the K computer's integration of technologies, including its massive number of CPUs, the interconnectivity that links them together, and the software that is able to bring out the highest performance from the hardware.

The K computer will be widely used in a variety of computational science fields where it is expected to contribute to the generation of world-class research results. The K computer is a wholly made-in-Japan supercomputer, from the research and development of the processors, to system design and manufacturing.

Use of the K computer is expected to have a groundbreaking impact in fields ranging from global climate research, meteorology, disaster prevention, and medicine, thereby contributing to the creation of a prosperous and secure society.

RIKEN President Ryoji Noyori said: "I would like to express my deep gratitude to everyone, beginning with our colleagues at our development partner Fujitsu Limited, who worked so valiantly on the construction of the K computer even under the severe conditions following the Great East Japan Earthquake. It is wonderful to be able to share the joy of this moment with them. I very much believe that the strength and perseverance that was demonstrated during this project will also make possible the recovery of the devastated Tohoku region."

© Japan Today

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11 Comments
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It uses about 10 MW of power. I imagine they will be turning some of it off soon to save power.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Maybe they can put it to work on predicting nuclear plant safety. If the power of this and other computers is so important, how come we see no benefits from it?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Good thing they didn't listen to Renho!!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Renho made the worst comment ever and it will haunt her political career.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

And still they will get the local weather predictions wrong - even for the weather happening at the moment... Remember, the SPEEDI computer system got the radiation spread wrong from Fukushima.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

What crap! The fastest dumb****, really what are they thinking. No-one cares about being having the fastest. Bigger issues to deal with.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I wonder how much energy this supercomputer uses!

It is not really the governments fault as they OK'd this some time ago, but they must be kicking themselves at the timing of this.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

it the fastest in contrast to the work of TEPCO & govt to solve the nuclear crisis, tsk tsk

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Faster than IBM supercomputer?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Faster than IBM supercomputer?

Which one do you mean? And the answer is YES, it is faster than any supercomputer IBM has built to date.

Also, there is a big different here between "it achieves" and "it will achieve".

For once, we should be happy there is a piece of good news coming from Japan these days.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

What's wrong with being second fastest?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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