IBM 1998 Annual Report Download - page 39

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In the fall of 1998, IBM
delivered an RS/6000 SP –
the world’s fastest computer,
twice as fast as any
previously built – jointly
developed with the U.S.
Department of Energy’s
Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory.
How powerful? Capable of
performing nearly 4 trillion
calculations per second –
more than a person with
a hand calculator could
perform in 63,000 years.
Another way to look at it:
the supercomputer known
as “Blue Pacific” is
50 times faster than Deep
Blue, the supercomputer
that defeated chess grand-
master Garry Kasparov.
In the post-Cold War era,
this is the kind of entry-
level computing power
the experts in charge of
nuclear arsenals need.
It allows them to run highly
complex simulations that
certify the safety, security
and reliability of the stock-
piles – without performing
live tests.
“Before we had this tech-
nology, calculations of the
complexity required
for stockpile stewardship
were absolutely impossible.”
– Dr. David Nowak,
Accelerated Strategic
Computing Initiative
Program Leader,
Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory.
Next up: development of
a follow-on RS/6000 SP for
the U.S. Department of
Energy to model nuclear
reactions more fully. It will
approach 100 trillion
calculations per second –
dwarfing the 4 trillion
possible with Blue Pacific.
37
3.88
trillion calculations per
SEC 4.00
TERAFLOPS,ON THE WAY TO
100