Japanese Computer Is World’s Fastest, as U.S. Falls Back
SAN FRANCISCO, April 19 — A Japanese laboratory has built the world’s fastest computer, a machine so powerful that it matches the raw processing power of the 20 fastest American computers combined and far outstrips the previous leader, an I.B.M. -built machine.
The achievement, which was reported today by an American scientist who tracks the performance of the world’s most powerful computers, is evidence that a technology race that most American engineers thought they were winning handily is far from over. American companies have built the fastest computers for most of the last decade.
The accomplishment is also a vivid statement of contrasting scientific and technology priorities in the United States and Japan. The Japanese machine was built to analyze climate change, including global warming, as well as weather and earthquake patterns. By contrast, the United States has predominantly focused its efforts on building powerful computers for simulating weapons, while its efforts have lagged in scientific areas like climate modeling.
For some American computer scientists, the arrival of the Japanese supercomputer evokes the type of alarm raised by the Soviet Union’s Sputnik satellite in 1957.
“In some sense we have a Computenik on our hands,” said Jack Dongarra, a University of Tennessee computer scientist who reported the achievement today. For many years he has maintained an authoritative list of the world’s 500 fastest computers.
Several United States computer scientists said the Japanese machine reflected differences in style and commitment that suggest that United States research and spending efforts have grown complacent in recent years. For now, the new computer will be used only for climate research, and American scientists have already begun preparing to move some of their climate simulation research to run on the Japanese machine.
“The Japanese clearly have a level of will that we haven’t achieved,” said Thomas Sterling, a supercomputer designer at the California Institute of Technology. “These guys are blowing us out of the water, and we need to sit up and take notice.”
The new Japanese supercomputer will have both scientific and practical applications. It will be used for advanced modeling of theories about global warming and climate change, and it will be able to predict short-term weather patterns.
Advances in computer speed today routinely extend computer simulation into all areas of science and engineering as complex calculations take an increasingly shorter time. Because increases in computing power tend to have exponential results, a problem that could take years for even the fastest computers today might be finished in hours on the new Japanese computer.
The ability to track the path of a typhoon, for example, is of immediate relevance to the island nation of Japan. Improved prediction made possible by a more powerful computer might save lives and property.
Computer simulation has become a standard tool in both science and modern design of products ranging from drugs to bicycles. Computers that are more powerful make possible simulations that are more accurate and can reduce cost and increase efficiency. At one time, for example, computers were capable of computing the flow of air over a single airplane wing but can now cover the entire aircraft.
The new Japanese supercomputer was financed by the Japanese government and has been installed at the Earth Simulator Research and Development Center in Yokohama, west of Tokyo. The Japanese government spent $350 million to $400 million developing the system over the last five years, according to Dr. Akira Sekino, president and chief executive of HNSX Supercomputers, a unit of the NEC Corporation based in Littleton, Colo.
The new computer was formally dedicated last month, and the Japan Marine Science and Technology Center said yesterday that the machine had reached more than 87 percent of its theoretical peak speed.
“This is a huge achievement for the Japanese,” Dr. Sekino said.
Incoming search terms for the article:
- what are the fastest computer cpu s
- slow applying computer settings computer browser not started
- old computer browser
- what is a computer capacity
- Evonsoft computer repair
Incoming search terms for the article:
Similar articles
- World’s Fastest Computer Now Twice as Fast
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — An IBM-built computer that has topped the list of the world’s 500 most powerful supercomputers has widened its lead in the latest ranking released Monday. The computer named Blue Gene/L, deployed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has doubled its performance to 280.6 trillion calculations per second (teraflops), up from 136.8
... - IBM triples performance of World’s Fastest Computer and breaks the “Quadrillion” Barrier
The world of computing continually throws up feats that are difficult to comprehend. If the world’s fastest car or world’s tallest building were suddenly to be outperformed by a factor of three, we’d be incredulous, yet such quantum leaps have become routine in the world of computing. IBM’s new Blue Gene/P is the second generation
... - Your fastest Internet in the world is found in Berkeley, CA
If you want the fastest average broadband speed in the world, don’t move to Japan. Instead, buckle up your Birkenstocks and pile into the VW Bus, because it’s time for a road trip to Berkeley, California, home of the fastest average Internet speeds on earth. This nugget of data comes courtesy of the most recent
... - Computing::World’s Fastest Computer::Los Alamos Lab
Quick read Los Alamos scientists doubled the processing speed of the former computing champ. Roadrunner, the new hybrid supercomputer, uses a video game chip to propel performance to more than a thousand trillion calculations per second. Scientists want faster, more powerful high-performance supercomputers to simulate complex physical, biological, and socioeconomic systems with greater realism and
... - Why Internet connections are fastest in South Korea
Editor’s Note: Which 17 countries have faster Internet connections than the United States? See our Internet speed map. (CNN) — People in the United States basically invented the Internet. So U.S. connections must be the fastest and cheapest in the world, right? Not so much. Broadband Internet speeds in the United States are only about
...