Engadget http://www.engadget.com Engadget http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif Engadget http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Supercomputer gets a memory boost with 380 petabytes of magnetic tape]]>http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/25/supercomputer-gets-a-magnetic-memory-boost/http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/25/supercomputer-gets-a-magnetic-memory-boost/http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/25/supercomputer-gets-a-magnetic-memory-boost/#comments Supercomputer gets a memory boost with 380 petabytes of magnetic tape

Remember the Cray XK6 at the University of Illinois that drives the National Science Foundation's Blue Waters project? Well, it looks like it's getting a little memory upgrade, sorta. We're not talking a slick new SSD here, or even a sweet NAS, all that computational power requires nothing less than... tape. Okay, so it's actually a full storage infrastructure, and some of it -- 25 petabytes no less -- will be disk-based. The rest -- a not insignificant 380 petabytes -- will be the good old magnetic stuff. The idea is that the disk part will be used for instant access, with the tape section serving as "nearline" storage -- something between an archive and online solution. Spectra Logic is providing the tape, and says it'll take a couple of years to implement the whole lot. Once complete, the system will support the supercomputer's lofty tasks, such as understanding how the cosmos evolved after the Big Bang and, y'know designing new materials at the atomic level. And we thought we were excited about out next desktop.

Supercomputer gets a memory boost with 380 petabytes of magnetic tape originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 May 2012 13:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>blue watersBlueWatersCray XK6CrayXk6data storageDataStoragemagnetic tapeMagneticTapeNational Science FoundationNationalScienceFoundationsciencestoragesupercomputeruniversity of illinoisUniversityOfIllinoisFri, 25 May 2012 13:17:00 EST<![CDATA[NVIDIA outs a pair of Tesla GPUs to electrify your supercomputer]]>http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/16/nvidia-tesla-gpus/http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/16/nvidia-tesla-gpus/http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/16/nvidia-tesla-gpus/#comments Image

NVIDIA's announced a pair of Tesla GPUs that'll give some extra pep to your supercomputing tasks. The K10 and K20 units harness the power of Kepler to add more muscle to the company's scientific and technical computing arm that supplies gear to the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and Tokyo's Tsubame 2.0. Internal tests reveal that the hardware is around three times faster than the company's Fermi GPUs -- with the latter card expected to arrive at the end of the year. The company didn't announce pricing, since its aiming them squarely at the big academic institutions, defense contractors and oil explorers -- but if your surname is Buffet or Abramovitch, then they might sell you one at trade.

Continue reading NVIDIA outs a pair of Tesla GPUs to electrify your supercomputer

NVIDIA outs a pair of Tesla GPUs to electrify your supercomputer originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 May 2012 09:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Barcelona Supercomputing CenterBarcelonaSupercomputingCenterBSCHigh Performance ComputingHighPerformanceComputingHPCNVIDIASupercomputerSupercomputingTeslaTesla GPUTeslaGpuTsubame 2.0Tsubame2.0Wed, 16 May 2012 09:51:00 EST<![CDATA[IBM's Holey Optochip transmits 1Tbps of data, is named awesomely]]>http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/12/ibms-holey-optochip-transmits-1tbps-of-data-is-named-awesomely/http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/12/ibms-holey-optochip-transmits-1tbps-of-data-is-named-awesomely/http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/12/ibms-holey-optochip-transmits-1tbps-of-data-is-named-awesomely/#commentsBe honest: was there any doubt whatsoever that something called a "Holey Optochip" would be anything short of mind-blowing? No. None. The whiz-kids over at IBM have somehow managed to transmit a staggering 1Tbps of data over a new optical chip, with the fresh prototype showing promise for ultra-high interconnect bandwidth to power future supercomputer and data center applications. For those who'd rather not deal with esoteric descriptions, that's around 500 HD movies being transferred each second, and it's enough to transfer the entire U.S. Library of Congress web archive in just 60 minutes. Needless to say, it's light pulses taking charge here, and researchers are currently hunting for ways to make use of optical signals within standard low-cost, high-volume chip manufacturing techniques. Getting the feeling that your own personal supercomputer is just a year or two away? Hate to burst your bubble, but IBM's been touting similar achievements since at least 2008. Actually, scratch that -- where there's hope, there's Holey.

IBM's Holey Optochip transmits 1Tbps of data, is named awesomely originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>1tbpschipcpudatadata centerDataCenterHoley OptochipHoleyOptochipibmlightOptical ChipOpticalChipprocessorprototypeResearcherResearcherssciencesupercomputertransceivertransmissionMon, 12 Mar 2012 00:17:00 EST<![CDATA[Cha-ching! IBM's Watson heads to Citigroup to meddle in human finances]]>http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/06/cha-ching-ibms-watson-heads-to-citigroup-to-meddle-in-human-fi/http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/06/cha-ching-ibms-watson-heads-to-citigroup-to-meddle-in-human-fi/http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/06/cha-ching-ibms-watson-heads-to-citigroup-to-meddle-in-human-fi/#comments Cha-ching! IBM's Watson heads to Citigroup to meddle in human financesWatson's been a busy supercomputer since it took a couple of humans to school on Jeopardy last year -- what with its stint at Columbia and a recent foray into hunting patent trolls -- and now it's taking on the financial industry. IBM and Citigroup recently announced plans to explore how America's favorite supercomputer fits into the realm of digital banking. Under the agreement, Citi will examine Watson's ability to "help analyze customer needs and process vast amounts of up-to-the-minute financial, economic, product and client data," in the hopes of providing rapid, personalized banking solutions. According to Bloomberg, Watson's financial assistance will be provided as a "cloud-based service" and will earn IBM a portion of the revenue and savings it helps generate. The full press release (which makes no mention of a vacation for the overworked machine) can be found after the break.

Continue reading Cha-ching! IBM's Watson heads to Citigroup to meddle in human finances

Cha-ching! IBM's Watson heads to Citigroup to meddle in human finances originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>bankbankingciticitibankcitigroupibmibm watsonIbmWatsonsuper computersupercomputerwatsonTue, 06 Mar 2012 21:23:00 EST<![CDATA[Eyes-on the innards of Fujitsu's K supercomputer (updated)]]>http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/25/eyes-on-the-innards-of-fujitsus-k-supercomputer/http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/25/eyes-on-the-innards-of-fujitsus-k-supercomputer/http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/25/eyes-on-the-innards-of-fujitsus-k-supercomputer/#comments Eyes-on the innards of Fujitsu's K supercomputerFujitsu's K supercomputer was on our radar before it was even completed, and naturally, we let you know when it smoked the competition and became the supercomputing speed king. So, when we had the opportunity to see a piece of K at Fujitsu's North America Technology Forum today, we couldn't pass it up. In case you forgot, K is a massive machine powered by 864 racks with 24 boards per rack housing SPARC64 CPUs. We got to see one of those boards, and Yuichiro Ajima -- who designed the inter-connection chips (ICC) on them -- was gracious enough to give us some more info on this most super of supercomputers.

Gallery: Eyes-on the innards of Fujitsu's K supercomputer


As you can see in the gallery above, each board has extensive plumbing to keep the SPARC silicon running at a manageable 32 - 35 degrees Celsius (90 - 95 Fahrenheit) under load. Underneath that copper cooling system lies four processors interspersed between 32 memory modules (with 2GB per module) and four ICCs lined up next to the board's rack interconnect ports. Currently, the system takes 30 megawatts to do its thing, though Ajima informed us that K's theoretical max electricity consumption is about double that -- for perspective, that means K could consume the entire output of some solar power plants. When asked if there were plans to add more racks should Fujitsu's supercomputer lose its crown, Ajima-san said that while possible, there are no plans to do so -- we'll see if that changes should a worthy opponent present itself.

Update: Turns out the K's power consumption resides around 13 megawatts, with a max consumption of 16MW at its current configuration. The facility in Kobe, Japan where K resides can deliver up to 24 megawatts, so expansion is possible, but none is currently planned.

Eyes-on the innards of Fujitsu's K supercomputer (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>10 petaflops10Petaflopsfujitsufujitsu kfujitsu k supercomputerFujitsuKFujitsuKSupercomputerhands-onjapanmulticorepetafloppetaflopsSPARC64Sparc64ViiifxsupercomputerYuichiro AjimaYuichiroAjimaWed, 25 Jan 2012 18:58:00 EST<![CDATA[T-Platforms to build ten petaflop supercomputer for Moscow State University]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/26/t-platforms-to-build-ten-petaflop-supercomputer-for-moscow-state/http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/26/t-platforms-to-build-ten-petaflop-supercomputer-for-moscow-state/http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/26/t-platforms-to-build-ten-petaflop-supercomputer-for-moscow-state/#comments In post-Soviet Russia, massive supercomputer programs you. (Sorry, we had to.) Recently, Russia's Moscow State University contracted with high-performance computing company T-Platforms to create a ten petaflop cluster that'll be operational in 2013. The computer would fall just short of the fastest supercomputer on Earth (the Japanese K Computer, which is rated at 10.51 petaflops) and will incorporate a mixture of different node types to achieve the ten petaflops. T-Platforms will reportedly build the nodes from Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge Xeon processors and NVIDIA's next-generation Kepler GPU coprocessors, and Intel's Many Integrated Core (MIC) architecture could also be included if it's available during construction. The reason for the project? Unknown officially, but we're guessing it's just another reason for Putin to rip his shirt off and celebrate.

Continue reading T-Platforms to build ten petaflop supercomputer for Moscow State University

T-Platforms to build ten petaflop supercomputer for Moscow State University originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Dec 2011 19:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Ivy BridgeIvyBridgeK-ComputerKeplerKepler GPUKeplerGpuMany Integrated CoresManyIntegratedCoresMoscow State UniversityMoscowStateUniversitySandy BridgeSandyBridgesupercomputerT-PlatformsXeonMon, 26 Dec 2011 19:48:00 EST<![CDATA[VT nears completion of HokieSpeed, world's 96th most powerful supercomputer]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/23/vt-nears-completion-of-hokiespeed-worlds-96th-most-powerful-su/http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/23/vt-nears-completion-of-hokiespeed-worlds-96th-most-powerful-su/http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/23/vt-nears-completion-of-hokiespeed-worlds-96th-most-powerful-su/#comments If basking in the presence of a powerful supercomputer is on your list of "must-haves" when selecting a proper university, then you may wish to fire off an admissions application to the Hokies at Virginia Tech. The school's HokieSpeed system is now in its final stages of testing, which combines 209 separate computers, each powered by dual six-core Xeon E5645 CPUs and two NVIDIA M2050 / C2050 448-core GPUs, with a single-precision peak processing capability of 455 teraflops. To put things in perspective, HokieSpeed is now the 96th most powerful computer in the world, and yet it was built for merely $1.4 million in loose change -- the majority of which came from a National Science Foundation grant. As a further claim to fame, HokieSpeed is the 11th most energy-efficient supercomputer in the world. Coming soon, the system will drive a 14-foot wide by four-foot tall visualization wall, which is to consist of eight 46-inch Samsung 3D televisions humming in unison. After all, with virtually limitless potential, these scientists will need a fitting backdrop for all those Skyrim sessions. The full PR follows the break, complete with commentary from the system's mastermind, Professor Wu Feng.

Continue reading VT nears completion of HokieSpeed, world's 96th most powerful supercomputer

VT nears completion of HokieSpeed, world's 96th most powerful supercomputer originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>3daccC2050cpuE5645gpuHokieSpeedintelM2050National Science FoundationNationalScienceFoundationnvidiaresearchsamsungsupercomputersupercomputinguniversityVirginia TechVirginiaTechvtWu FengWuFengxeonFri, 23 Dec 2011 18:43:00 EST<![CDATA[Watson now hunting down patent trolls, plans Ken Jennings' elaborate demise]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/09/watson-now-hunting-down-patent-trolls-plans-ken-jennings-elabo/http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/09/watson-now-hunting-down-patent-trolls-plans-ken-jennings-elabo/http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/09/watson-now-hunting-down-patent-trolls-plans-ken-jennings-elabo/#comments The Watson supercomputer used its speech recognition, natural language processing, machine learning and data mining abilities to crush puny human Ken Jennings' dreams of winning at "Jeopardy!", but now Big Blue has it chasing down medical patent trolls for fun. Incorporating the Strategic IP Insight Platform, IBM has now programmed Watson to scan millions of pharmaceutical patents and biomedical journals to discover, analyze, and record any info pertaining to drug discovery. SIIP can then look for the names of chemical compounds, related diagrams, the company and scientist who invented and works with the compounds and related words to determine a patent's rightful owner. The SIIP function can also highlight which patents could be targeted for acquisition by trolls looking to control a property via a lawsuit or licensing agreement. Click past the break for a video outlining the project, along with Watson's announcement of its engagement to "Skynet".

Continue reading Watson now hunting down patent trolls, plans Ken Jennings' elaborate demise

Watson now hunting down patent trolls, plans Ken Jennings' elaborate demise originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Dec 2011 05:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>Big BlueBigBluebiochemicalchemicalcompoundsdiagramsIBMintellectual propertyIntellectualPropertyipip lawIpLawjournaljournalslawsuitlicensingownerpatentpatent trollpatent trollspatentsPatentTrollPatentTrollspharmaceuticalSIIPStrategic IP Insight PlatformStrategicIpInsightPlatformsupercomputertrolltrollsvideoWatsonFri, 09 Dec 2011 05:20:00 EST<![CDATA[NVIDIA's Tesla GPU powers Tsubame 2.0 to green supercomputer supremacy]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/23/nvidias-tesla-gpu-powers-tsubame-2-0-to-green-supercomputer-sup/http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/23/nvidias-tesla-gpu-powers-tsubame-2-0-to-green-supercomputer-sup/http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/23/nvidias-tesla-gpu-powers-tsubame-2-0-to-green-supercomputer-sup/#comments Tsubame 2.0 The Green500 might not be quite as well known as the Top500, but it's no less of an honor to be counted among the world's most energy efficient supercomputers. NVIDIA is tooting its own horn for making it on to the list for the second year in a row as part of the "greenest" petaflop machine. The Tsubame 2.0 at the Tokyo Institute of Technology's Global Scientific Information Center is powered by Intel's Xeon CPUs, but NVIDIA's Tesla general purpose GPUs do a vast majority of the number crunching, allowing it to deliver 1.19 petaflops of performance while consuming only 1.2 megawatts. That's roughly 958 megaflops per watt, a huge increase over the most efficient CPU-only super computer, the Cielo Cray, which gets only 278 megaflops per watt. The Tsubame 2.0 isn't the greenest machine on the planet though, that honor belongs to IBM's BlueGene which takes the top five spots on the Green500. Still, number ten ain't bad... right? Check out the PR after the break.

Continue reading NVIDIA's Tesla GPU powers Tsubame 2.0 to green supercomputer supremacy

NVIDIA's Tesla GPU powers Tsubame 2.0 to green supercomputer supremacy originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>CUDAgreen500GSICnvidianvidia teslaNvidiaTeslasuper computerSuperComputerteslaTokyo Institute of Technologytokyo institute of technology GSICTokyo Institute of Technologys Global Scientific Information CenTokyoInstituteOfTechnologyTokyoInstituteOfTechnologyGsicTokyoInstituteOfTechnologysGlobalScientificInformationCenterTsubameTsubame 2.0Tsubame2.0XeonWed, 23 Nov 2011 17:20:00 EST<![CDATA[Behind Amazon's Silk browser lurks a really fast supercomputer]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/18/behind-amazons-silk-browser-lurks-a-really-fast-supercomputer/http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/18/behind-amazons-silk-browser-lurks-a-really-fast-supercomputer/http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/18/behind-amazons-silk-browser-lurks-a-really-fast-supercomputer/#comments We were hardly shocked to see Fujitsu atop the most recent list of the world's fastest supercomputers, but perhaps more surprising is the fact that Amazon cracked the top 50, as well. Turns out, the company's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) servers are powered by a Linux-based, 240-teraflop beast that boasts 17,024 cores, 66,000 GB of memory, and a ten gigabit Ethernet interconnect. That's good for 42nd place on Top 500's global rankings, and it's also good enough to power Silk, the browser you'll find on the Kindle Fire. But Amazon has a long way to go before catching up with the Fujitsu K, which recently cracked that vaunted ten petaflop barrier.

Behind Amazon's Silk browser lurks a really fast supercomputer originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Nov 2011 07:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>amazonamazon silkAmazonSilkbrowsercloudcomputingcoreEC2elastic compute cloudElasticComputeCloudethernetkindle fireKindleFirelinuxmemoryminipostprocessorrankingsserversilksupercomputertabletterafloptop 500top 500 supercomputer listTop500Top500SupercomputerListFri, 18 Nov 2011 07:19:00 EST<![CDATA[University gets $188 million AMD-based supercomputer, free copy of Norton]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/16/university-gets-188-million-amd-based-supercomputer-free-copy/http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/16/university-gets-188-million-amd-based-supercomputer-free-copy/http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/16/university-gets-188-million-amd-based-supercomputer-free-copy/#comments It used to be that you only needed a bachelor's degree and elbow patches to be taken seriously as an academic, but now it's all about that 50-petaflop supercomputer with 500 petabytes of storage whirring away in the basement. The University of Illinois used to shop with IBM, but it's just about to have a brand new Cray XK6 installed instead, so it can continue providing computing power to the National Science Foundation's Blue Waters project. It's not all about inciting gadget envy, of course: the machine's unlikely truce of AMD Opteron 6200 16-core processors and NVIDIA Tesla GPUs will help more than 25 teams of scientists to model and understand real-world phenomena, from the damage caused by earthquakes to the way viruses to break into cells. Breakthroughs from these projects will -- hopefully, one day -- make the $188 million total cost of Cray's products and services seem like a bargain. Full details in the PR after the break.

Continue reading University gets $188 million AMD-based supercomputer, free copy of Norton

University gets $188 million AMD-based supercomputer, free copy of Norton originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Nov 2011 08:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>AMDAMD Opteron 6200AmdOpteron6200blue watersblue waters projectBlueWatersBlueWatersProjectCrayCray Xk6CrayXk6earthquakesNational Science FoundationNationalScienceFoundationnvidianvidia teslaNvidiaTeslaOpteronresearchsupercomputeruniversity of illinoisUniversityOfIllinoisvirusvirusesWed, 16 Nov 2011 08:19:00 EST<![CDATA[Barcelona readies hybrid ARM-based supercomputer, uses NVIDIA GPUs for heavy lifting]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/14/barcelona-readies-hybrid-arm-based-supercomputer-uses-nvidia-gp/http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/14/barcelona-readies-hybrid-arm-based-supercomputer-uses-nvidia-gp/http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/14/barcelona-readies-hybrid-arm-based-supercomputer-uses-nvidia-gp/#comments NVIDIA has announced that it'll be providing CUDA GPUs for Barcelona's Supercomputing Center, with the facility looking to substantially boost its energy efficiency with these later this week at the SC11 Conference in Seattle. While the words "low power" and "energy efficiency" are a bit of a buzz kill in the high-octane high-MFLOP world of supercomputing, the BSC thinks it'll use between 15 to 30 times less power than current systems. Titled the Mont Blanc Project, it's aiming to multiply those energy savings by four to ten times by 2014. While other supercomputers eat their way though megawatts of the electric stuff, hopefully a drop in power demands won't affect this machine's supercomputing scores.

Continue reading Barcelona readies hybrid ARM-based supercomputer, uses NVIDIA GPUs for heavy lifting

Barcelona readies hybrid ARM-based supercomputer, uses NVIDIA GPUs for heavy lifting originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Nov 2011 11:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ARMBarcelona Supercomputing CenterBarcelonaSupercomputingCenterCUDAGPGPUGPUNVIDIAparallel computingParallelComputingresearchsupercomputersupercomputerssupercomputingMon, 14 Nov 2011 11:04:00 EST<![CDATA[IBM's Watson takes Harvard, MIT business students to school, drops the mic]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/04/ibms-watson-takes-harvard-mit-business-students-to-school-dro/http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/04/ibms-watson-takes-harvard-mit-business-students-to-school-dro/http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/04/ibms-watson-takes-harvard-mit-business-students-to-school-dro/#comments There was a massacre in Boston the other night, and Watson had blood all over his hands. The IBM supercomputer and undisputed Jeopardy champ made a virtual appearance in Beantown this week, ostensibly as part of a symposium on the ways in which advanced analytics could reshape business. In reality, though, he only showed up to remind everyone that he's really smart. During the event, Watson squared off in a Jeopardy scrimmage against two groups of students from some of the most prestigious business schools in the world -- Harvard Business School, and MIT's Sloan School of Management. The brainiac b-schoolers (including two former Jeopardy contestants) did remarkably well for the first two rounds; Harvard managed to get within $1,800 of the machine going into Final Jeopardy, and even held the lead at one point, following a gutsy Daily Double (MIT didn't fare so well, but hey, we're all human, right?). The wheels came off, however, once the battle entered Act III, when Watson pulled away for the win. Both the computer and Team Harvard answered the final question correctly, but Watson wisely bet just enough to keep the Ivy Leaguers at bay. When the smoke cleared, Watson was left standing with $53,601, Harvard finished with $42,399 and MIT came in a distant third, with $100.

Adding insult to injury is the fact that Watson wasn't even in the same building as his muggle competitors -- nor, for that matter, was he in the same state. IBM kept all of the machine's processors and memory chips at its Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York. Watson had already come up with answers to the questions prior to this week's showdown, but placed wages, chose categories and buzzed in responses in real-time. According to IBM, Watson's presence wouldn't have changed the outcome of the game, which was followed by a discussion on the effects that similar technologies could have on the financial world. The most immediate impact? Bruised egos. Re-live the event at IBM's liveblog below, or find more information in the PR after the break.

Continue reading IBM's Watson takes Harvard, MIT business students to school, drops the mic

IBM's Watson takes Harvard, MIT business students to school, drops the mic originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>bostoncomputergameharvardHarvard Business SchoolHarvardBusinessSchoolibmjeopardyman versus machineManVersusMachineMITmit sloan school of managementMitSloanSchoolOfManagementmoneyremotesloansmartsupercomputertriviawatsonFri, 04 Nov 2011 17:48:00 EST<![CDATA[Fujitsu's 10.51 petaflop K supercomputer is fastest in the world]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/04/fujitsus-10-51-petaflop-k-supercomputer-is-fastest-in-the-world/http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/04/fujitsus-10-51-petaflop-k-supercomputer-is-fastest-in-the-world/http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/04/fujitsus-10-51-petaflop-k-supercomputer-is-fastest-in-the-world/#comments
Fujitsu, sweaty palmed from the construction of the K supercomputer, swore the colossal machine would manage a speed of ten petaflops by the year 2012. The effort has paid off handsomely: the hangar-sized machine has a top speed of 10.51. If you wanted to duplicate that setup at home, you'd only need 864 racks, 88,128 processors and enough cash in your back pocket to front an annual electricity bill of $10 million a year. The company will be spilling all at November's SC11 conference in Seattle, where the K will cement its position as the fastest computer in the world. One last thing -- we have a hunch that this machine can just about play Crysis.

Fujitsu's 10.51 petaflop K supercomputer is fastest in the world originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>CrysisFujitsuFujitsu KFujitsu K SupercomputerFujitsuKFujitsuKSupercomputerK SupercomputerKSupercomputerPetaflopProcessingRikenRiken Advanced Institute for Computational ScienceRikenAdvancedInstituteForComputationalScienceSupercomputerTop 500Top 500 Supercomputer ListTop500Top500SupercomputerListFri, 04 Nov 2011 11:28:00 EST<![CDATA[China debuts homegrown supercomputer, hits one petaflop mark]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/31/china-debuts-homegrown-supercomputer-hits-one-petaflop-mark/http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/31/china-debuts-homegrown-supercomputer-hits-one-petaflop-mark/http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/31/china-debuts-homegrown-supercomputer-hits-one-petaflop-mark/#comments Sunway BlueLight MPP China has already, however briefly, sat atop the Top500 list of supercomputers, but that was using silicon designed by American companies like Intel and NVIDIA. The country's latest contestant though, is sure to be a much bigger point of national pride. The Sunway BlueLight MPP, which was installed at the National Supercomputer Center in Jinan this September, is powered by 8,700 ShenWei SW1600 CPUs -- the homegrown chips that come out of Shanghai. The Sunway's one petaflop performance isn't enough to make it the new king of the hill, but it should get it into the top 20. More impressively, the machine only consumes about one megawatt of electricity -- roughly a quarter of the 2.5 petaflop Tianhe-1A. Now it's up to researchers to crank these ShenWei cores up to a 11 and make a run at that 50 petaflop Cray.

China debuts homegrown supercomputer, hits one petaflop mark originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>chinaenergy efficiencyenergy efficientEnergyEfficiencyEnergyEfficientpetaflopshenweishenwei sw1600ShenweiSw1600super computerSuperComputersupercomputerstop500Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:41:00 EST<![CDATA['Monster Cat' 30,472-core supercomputer can be yours for $1,279 an hour]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/21/monster-cat-30-472-core-supercomputer-can-be-yours-for-1-279/http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/21/monster-cat-30-472-core-supercomputer-can-be-yours-for-1-279/http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/21/monster-cat-30-472-core-supercomputer-can-be-yours-for-1-279/#comments Nicknamed after the magical "Nekomata" cat of Japanese nightmares, Cycle Computing's monstrous new supercomputer can now be yours to rent for the low price of $1,279 an hour. By fusing together the face-melting power of 3,809 eight-core Amazon AWS Elastic Computer 2s, the company was able to create the world's 30th fastest computer with 30,472 processor cores and 27TB of memory -- primarily used for complex modeling rather than Facebooking. Components of the beast hide out in three of Amazon's EC2 data center lairs located in California, Virginia and Ireland, and communicate using HTTPS and SSH encrypted with AES-256 to keep its secrets safe and secure. Compared to the company's previous 10,000-core offering ($1,060 / hour), the new version is far more powerful and minimally more expensive, mostly because it uses spot instances (where customers bid on unused EC2 capacity) rather than pricier reserved instances. Good on you Cycle Computing, not everyone has access to a Jeopardy champ.

'Monster Cat' 30,472-core supercomputer can be yours for $1,279 an hour originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Sep 2011 19:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>aes-256AmazonAmazon AWS Elastic Computer 2samazon ec2AmazonAwsElasticComputer2sAmazonEc2cycle computingCycleComputingec2HTTPSIBMmodelingnekomataSSHSSH encryptionSshEncryptionsupercomputersupercomputerswatsonWed, 21 Sep 2011 19:11:00 EST<![CDATA[IBM's Watson set to tackle health insurance, takes 'Diagnosis for $1,000']]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/12/ibms-watson-set-to-tackle-health-insurance-takes-diagnosis-fo/http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/12/ibms-watson-set-to-tackle-health-insurance-takes-diagnosis-fo/http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/12/ibms-watson-set-to-tackle-health-insurance-takes-diagnosis-fo/#commentsAfter tackling your tech support woes, the famed Watson is moving on to mop up the health insurance industry. That's right, the IBM showstopper we all know and love for trouncing trivia kings on Jeopardy has been hired by one of the largest health insurance company's in the US. WellPoint Inc. will make use of the system's breakneck speed and healthcare database alongside patient records -- allowing the supercomputer to guide treatment options and prescribe medicines. Once implemented, data will be combined from three sources in a matter of seconds: a patient's chart / records from a doctor, the insurance company's patient history and the medical knowledge that Watson already possesses. A pilot program will roll out next year to a number of cancer facilities, academic medical centers and oncology practices. No word yet on when The Watson School of Medicine will start accepting applications.

IBM's Watson set to tackle health insurance, takes 'Diagnosis for $1,000' originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>academicAIartificial intelligenceArtificialIntelligencecancerhealthhealthcareibminsurancemedicalmedicinepilotrobotSuperComputertrialwatsonWellpointMon, 12 Sep 2011 17:24:00 EST<![CDATA[IBM developing largest data drive ever, with 120 petabytes of bliss]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/26/ibm-developing-largest-data-drive-ever-with-120-petabytes-of-bl/http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/26/ibm-developing-largest-data-drive-ever-with-120-petabytes-of-bl/http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/26/ibm-developing-largest-data-drive-ever-with-120-petabytes-of-bl/#comments So, this is pretty... big. At this very moment, researchers at IBM are building the largest data drive ever -- a 120 petabyte beast comprised of some 200,000 normal HDDs working in concert. To put that into perspective, 120 petabytes is the equivalent of 120 million gigabytes, (or enough space to hold about 24 billion, average-sized MP3's), and significantly more spacious than the 15 petabyte capacity found in the biggest arrays currently in use. To achieve this, IBM aligned individual drives in horizontal drawers, as in most data centers, but made these spaces even wider, in order to accommodate more disks within smaller confines. Engineers also implemented a new data backup mechanism, whereby information from dying disks is slowly reproduced on a replacement drive, allowing the system to continue running without any slowdown. A system called GPFS, meanwhile, spreads stored files over multiple disks, allowing the machine to read or write different parts of a given file at once, while indexing its entire collection at breakneck speeds. The company developed this particular system for an unnamed client looking to conduct complex simulations, but Bruce Hillsberg, IBM's director of storage research, says it may be only a matter of time before all cloud computing systems sport similar architectures. For the moment, however, he admits that his creation is still "on the lunatic fringe."

IBM developing largest data drive ever, with 120 petabytes of bliss originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Aug 2011 09:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>120 petabyte120Petabytebackupbruce hillsbergBruceHillsbergcomputer scienceComputerSciencecomputingdatadata backupdata driveDataBackupDataDrivedrivegigabyteGPFShard disk driveHardDiskDriveHDDibmindexpetabyteprocessingresearchsciencespacespeedsupercomputersupercomputingFri, 26 Aug 2011 09:35:00 EST<![CDATA[IBM's cognitive computing chip functions like a human brain, heralds our demise (video)]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/18/ibms-cognitive-computing-chip-functions-like-a-human-brain-her/http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/18/ibms-cognitive-computing-chip-functions-like-a-human-brain-her/http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/18/ibms-cognitive-computing-chip-functions-like-a-human-brain-her/#comments
After having created a supercomputer capable of hanging with Jeopardy's finest, IBM has now taken another step toward human-like artificial intelligence, with an experimental chip designed to function like a real brain. Developed as part of a DARPA project called SyNAPSE (Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics), IBM's so-called "neurosynaptic computing chip" features a silicon core capable of digitally replicating the brain's neurons, synapses and axons. To achieve this, researchers took a dramatic departure from the conventional von Neumann computer architecture, which links internal memory and a processor with a single data channel. This structure allows for data to be transmitted at high, but limited rates, and isn't especially power efficient -- especially for more sophisticated, scaled-up systems. Instead, IBM integrated memory directly within its processors, wedding hardware with software in a design that more closely resembles the brain's cognitive structure. This severely limits data transfer speeds, but allows the system to execute multiple processes in parallel (much like humans do), while minimizing power usage. IBM's two prototypes have already demonstrated the ability to navigate, recognize patterns and classify objects, though the long-term goal is to create a smaller, low-power chip that can analyze more complex data and, yes, learn. Scurry past the break for some videos from IBM's researchers, along with the full press release.

Continue reading IBM's cognitive computing chip functions like a human brain, heralds our demise (video)

IBM's cognitive computing chip functions like a human brain, heralds our demise (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Aug 2011 10:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>architectureaxonbrainchipcognitivecognitive computing chipCognitiveComputingChipcomputingCPUDARPAdesignibmibm researchIbmResearchlearningmemoryneuronneuroscienceneurosynaptic computing chipNeurosynapticComputingChipparallelpowerprocessorprototyperesearchsupercomputersynapsesynapsesthinkingvideovon neumannVonNeumannwatsonThu, 18 Aug 2011 10:06:00 EST<![CDATA[IBM and NCSA end their Blue Waters affair, go back to just being supercomputing friends]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/09/ibm-and-ncsa-end-their-blue-waters-affair-go-back-to-just-being/http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/09/ibm-and-ncsa-end-their-blue-waters-affair-go-back-to-just-being/http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/09/ibm-and-ncsa-end-their-blue-waters-affair-go-back-to-just-being/#comments It seems that IBM and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois have hit a snag in their once fruitful relationship. After nearly four years of partnering for the Blue Waters petascale supercomputer, the NCSA's recently released a joint statement explaining that IBM's "terminated" its involvement with the project. If you'll recall, IBM was supplying its latest Power7 rigs to get all that data flowing, but the company's now decided that Ol' Blue will require more resources than initially anticipated. Apparently, there were talks to try and keep the spark alive, but since those fell through both have decided to return each others CDs and hoodies assets involved with the project (per contract terms): IBM gives back the money, while the NCSA returns any hardware supplied. The two plan on remaining in touch for future endeavours, and the NCSA doesn't appear to be too down either as it'll be consulting with the National Science Foundation to keep Blue Waters afloat. You'll find the official statement in the source link below, but we've included a video rendition of how we'd like to imagine it past the break.

[Photo credit: kosheahan]

Continue reading IBM and NCSA end their Blue Waters affair, go back to just being supercomputing friends

IBM and NCSA end their Blue Waters affair, go back to just being supercomputing friends originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>45nmblue watersBlueWatersCPUeDRAMHot ChipsHotChipsIbmibm power 780IbmPower780microprocessormultithreadingncsapercspetafloppower 780 serverPower7Power780ServerpowervmprocessorRISCserverssimultaneous multithreadingSimultaneousMultithreadingSMTsuper computersuper computingSuperComputerSuperComputinguniversity of illinoisUniversityOfIllinoisuscaTue, 09 Aug 2011 12:45:00 EST<![CDATA[US federal government to close 800 data centers, walk into the cloud]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/20/us-federal-government-to-close-800-data-centers-walk-into-the-c/http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/20/us-federal-government-to-close-800-data-centers-walk-into-the-c/http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/20/us-federal-government-to-close-800-data-centers-walk-into-the-c/#comments Sure, it's been just a few months since the National Security Agency asked for a $900 million supercomputing complex - you know, to help out with all that internet wiretapping. But concern about deficit spending will mean shuttering 800 other federal data centers in the US, or 40 percent of total government capacity. The closures are part of a larger push toward greater efficiency and consolidation, with an estimated savings of $3 billion a year; moving services to the cloud will mean more savings in licensing fees and infrastructure. Single-digit savings might sound like chump change when you realize the federal information technology budget runs around $80 billion a year, but hey, it's a start, right?

[Photo thanks to Adrian Levesque and Adam Koniak.]

US federal government to close 800 data centers, walk into the cloud originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 21:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>budgetdata centerDataCenterdefensedepartment of defenseDepartmentOfDefenseDODEnergyenergy efficiencyEnergyEfficiencygovernmentintelligencemoneypoliticssecurityspendingSuperComputersupercomputingWed, 20 Jul 2011 21:40:00 EST<![CDATA[Intel plans exascale computing by 2018, wants to make petaflops passé]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/20/intel-plans-exascale-computing-by-2018-wants-to-make-petaflops/http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/20/intel-plans-exascale-computing-by-2018-wants-to-make-petaflops/http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/20/intel-plans-exascale-computing-by-2018-wants-to-make-petaflops/#comments Sure, Fujitsu has a right to be proud of its K supercomputer -- performing over 8 petaflops with just under 70,000 Venus CPUs is nothing to sneeze at. Intel isn't giving up its status as the supercomputing CPU king, however, as it plans to bring exascale computing to the world by the end of this decade. Such a machine could do one million trillion calculations per second, and Intel plans to make it happen with its Many Integrated Core Architecture (MIC). The first CPUs designed with MIC, codenamed Knights Corner, are built on a 22nm process that utilizes the company's 3D Tri-Gate transistors and packs over 50 cores per chip. These CPUs are designed for parallel processing applications, similar to the NVIDIA GPUs that will be used in a DARPA-funded supercomputer we learned about last year. Here we thought the war between these two was over -- looks like a new one's just getting started. PR's after the break.

Continue reading Intel plans exascale computing by 2018, wants to make petaflops passé

Intel plans exascale computing by 2018, wants to make petaflops passé originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 20:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>22nm3d transistor3dTransistorexaflopexascaleintelintel xeonIntelXeonknights cornerKnightsCornermoores lawMooresLawnvidiasupercomputersupercomputingtri-gatetri-gate transistorsTri-gateTransistorsxeonMon, 20 Jun 2011 20:13:00 EST<![CDATA[Fujitsu K supercomputer now ranked fastest in the world, dethrones China's Tianhe-1A]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/20/fujitsu-k-supercomputer-now-ranked-fastest-in-the-world-dethron/http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/20/fujitsu-k-supercomputer-now-ranked-fastest-in-the-world-dethron/http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/20/fujitsu-k-supercomputer-now-ranked-fastest-in-the-world-dethron/#comments Remember the K -- the Fujitsu supercomputer that promised to do a whopping ten petaflops by the year 2012? Well, it hasn't reached that threshold just yet, but according to the latest Top 500 supercomputer list, it's still faster than any other machine on Earth. In fact, the top-ranked beast is more powerful than the next five supercomputers combined, consumes enough electricity to power about 10,000 homes for a full year, and is capable of churning out about 8.2 quadrillion calculations per second -- three times as many as what runner-up (and former number-one) Tianhe-1A can process. Today's announcement marks the first time since 2004 that a Japanese creation sits atop Top500.org's rankings, but Fujitsu isn't exactly resting on its laurels. Before deploying it next year, engineers at the Riken Advanced Institute for Computational Science are aiming to add about 100,000 cores to the K's collection of 548,352, which would provide it with even more computational muscle, and likely spell doom for all of humanity. Find out more in the PR after the break.

Continue reading Fujitsu K supercomputer now ranked fastest in the world, dethrones China's Tianhe-1A

Fujitsu K supercomputer now ranked fastest in the world, dethrones China's Tianhe-1A originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Jun 2011 08:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>calculationcomputingcpufujitsufujitsu kFujitsuKjapanklistpetaflopprocessingprocessorrankingRiken Advanced Institute for Computational ScienceRikenAdvancedInstituteForComputationalSciencespeedsupercomputertop 500top 500 supercomputer listTop500Top500SupercomputerListMon, 20 Jun 2011 08:37:00 EST<![CDATA[Cray XK6 supercomputer smashes petaflop record, humbly calls itself a 'general-purpose' machine]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/25/cray-xk6-supercomputer-smashes-petaflop-record-humbly-calls-its/http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/25/cray-xk6-supercomputer-smashes-petaflop-record-humbly-calls-its/http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/25/cray-xk6-supercomputer-smashes-petaflop-record-humbly-calls-its/#comments Sure, IBM's ten petaflop supercomputer may sound impressive, but Cray can do you five better -- the outfit just announced the Cray XK6, an upgradable, hybrid supercomputing system capable of more than 50 petaflops of computational muscle. Powered by Cray's Gemini interconnect, AMD Opteron 6200 processors, and NVIDIA Tesla 20-Series GPUs, the XK6 system blends x86 and GPU environments with the firm's own flavor of Linux. The folks at Cray won't resort to bragging, however -- they're humbly declaring the machine to be the first "general-purpose supercomputer based on GPU technology," and not, as they put it, a stunt to place high on any Top 500 lists. Suggestive, aren't they? Check out the unassuming press release after the break.

Continue reading Cray XK6 supercomputer smashes petaflop record, humbly calls itself a 'general-purpose' machine

Cray XK6 supercomputer smashes petaflop record, humbly calls itself a 'general-purpose' machine originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 May 2011 06:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>10 petraflops10Petraflops50 petraflops50Petraflopsamdcraycray supercomputerCraySupercomputerGPUGPU accelerationGpuAccelerationnvidiapetraflopssupercomputerx86Wed, 25 May 2011 06:42:00 EST<![CDATA[IBM's Jeopardy-winning supercomputer headed to hospitals. Dr. Watson, we presume?]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/24/ibms-jeopardy-winning-supercomputer-headed-to-hospitals-dr-wa/http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/24/ibms-jeopardy-winning-supercomputer-headed-to-hospitals-dr-wa/http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/24/ibms-jeopardy-winning-supercomputer-headed-to-hospitals-dr-wa/#comments We always knew that Watson's powers extended well beyond the realm of TV trivia, and now IBM has provided a little more insight into how its supercomputer could help doctors treat and diagnose their patients. Over the past few months, researchers have been stockpiling Watson's database with information from journals and encyclopedias, in an attempt to beef up the device's medical acumen. The idea is to eventually sync this database with a hospital's electronic health records, allowing doctors to remotely consult Watson via cloud computing and speech-recognition technology. The system still has its kinks to work out, but during a recent demonstration for the AP, IBM's brainchild accurately diagnosed a fictional patient with Lyme disease using only a list of symptoms. It may be another two years, however, before we see Watson in a white coat, as IBM has yet to set a price for its digitized doc. But if it's as sharp in the lab as it was on TV, we may end up remembering Watson for a lot more than pwning Ken Jennings. Head past the break for a video from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, which, along with Columbia University, has been directly involved in IBM's program.

Continue reading IBM's Jeopardy-winning supercomputer headed to hospitals. Dr. Watson, we presume?

IBM's Jeopardy-winning supercomputer headed to hospitals. Dr. Watson, we presume? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 May 2011 14:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>cloudcloud computingCloudComputingcolumbiaColumbia Universitycolumbia university medical schoolColumbiaUniversityColumbiaUniversityMedicalSchoolcomputerdatabasediagnosisdoctorhealthhealth recordsHealthRecordsibmibm watsonIbmWatsonmedical journalsmedical recordsMedicalJournalsMedicalRecordsmedicinepatientspeech recognitionSpeechRecognitionSuperComputertreatmentUniversity of Marylanduniversity of maryland school of medicineUniversityOfMarylandUniversityOfMarylandSchoolOfMedicinevideoTue, 24 May 2011 14:02:00 EST<![CDATA[Supercomputer cracks sixty-trillionth binary digit of Pi-squared, gets beaten up by normal computers]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/02/supercomputer-cracks-sixty-trillionth-binary-digit-of-pi-squared/http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/02/supercomputer-cracks-sixty-trillionth-binary-digit-of-pi-squared/http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/02/supercomputer-cracks-sixty-trillionth-binary-digit-of-pi-squared/#comments
Pencils down, everyone. IBM's "BlueGene/P" supercomputer has beaten you to the sixty-trillionth binary digit of Pi-squared after only a few months -- at one quadrillion calculations per second. Running thousands of independent processors, the number-crunching monster accomplished what would have taken a single CPU 1,500 years. A cloud-computing effort last year calculated Pi itself out to the two-quadrillionth digit, but you may wonder why this all matters. "What is interesting in these computations is that until just a few years ago, it was widely believed that such mathematical objects were forever beyond the reach of human reasoning or machine computation," said one researcher, "Once again we see the utter futility in placing limits on human ingenuity and technology." So there's that. But in all the commotion no one seems to have announced whether the landmark digit was a one or a zero: all you betting on the outcome will have to dig deeper into the source link.

Supercomputer cracks sixty-trillionth binary digit of Pi-squared, gets beaten up by normal computers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 10:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>BlueGeneBlueGenePibmmathmath nerdmath nerdsMathNerdMathNerdsnerdpiSuperComputerUniversity of NewcastleUniversityOfNewcastleMon, 02 May 2011 10:53:00 EST<![CDATA[NSA wants $896.5 million to build new supercomputing complex]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/22/nsa-wants-896-5-million-to-build-new-supercomputing-complex/http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/22/nsa-wants-896-5-million-to-build-new-supercomputing-complex/http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/22/nsa-wants-896-5-million-to-build-new-supercomputing-complex/#commentsThe federal government may be cutting corners left and right, but that hasn't stopped the NSA from requesting nearly $900 million to help beef up its supercomputing capabilities. According to budget documents released by the Department of Defense yesterday, the NSA is looking to construct a massive new High Performance Computing Center in Maryland, designed to harness plenty of supercomputing muscle within an energy efficient framework. As with many other data centers, the NSA's $896.5 million complex would feature raised floors, chilled water systems and advanced alarm mechanisms, but it would also need about 60 megawatts of power -- the same amount that powers Microsoft's gargantuan, 700,000 square-foot data center in Chicago. According to the DoD, however, the NSA would use that juice judiciously, in the hopes of conserving enough water, energy and building materials to obtain LEED Silver certification. Another chunk of the funding, not surprisingly, would go toward fortifying the facility. The NSA is hoping to pour more than $35 million into building security and perimeter control, which would include a cargo inspection facility, advanced surveillance, and systems designed to detect any radiological, nuclear, or chemical threats. If all goes to plan, construction would wrap up by December 2015.

NSA wants $896.5 million to build new supercomputing complex originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Apr 2011 12:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>budgetdata centerDataCenterdefensedepartment of defenseDepartmentOfDefenseDODEnergyenergy efficiencyEnergyEfficiencygovernmentintelligenceLEEDleed silverLeedSilvermarylandmoneynational securitynational security agencyNationalSecurityNationalSecurityAgencynsapoliticssecurityspendingSuperComputersupercomputingFri, 22 Apr 2011 12:44:00 EST<![CDATA[IBM touts new Power7 systems, still no mass market Watson]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/12/ibm-touts-new-power7-systems-still-no-mass-market-watson/http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/12/ibm-touts-new-power7-systems-still-no-mass-market-watson/http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/12/ibm-touts-new-power7-systems-still-no-mass-market-watson/#commentsIBM's latest announcement probably won't get us any closer to securing our very own in-house version of Watson, but the firm is boasting a new line of Power7 products that includes an upgraded version of the supercomputer's server. First up are the BladeCenter PS703 and PS704, sporting 16 cores and 32 cores, respectively -- the PS704 touts a 60 percent increase in speed over its predecessors. The Power 750, the same system that gave Watson the stuff to slaughter those humans on Jeopardy!, is getting an upgrade that supports as many as 32 cores and can run up to 128 simultaneous threads, while the Power 755 offers up high-performance computing with 32 cores of its own. The cheapest version of the Power 750 Express rings in at about $30,000. So, no, we won't be battling Watson in a Jeopardy! Home Edition showdown anytime soon, but we're happy to see that our favorite supercomputer could be even smarter -- or at the very least, faster -- the next time it shows up on the boob tube. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading IBM touts new Power7 systems, still no mass market Watson

IBM touts new Power7 systems, still no mass market Watson originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>bladeblade centerBladeCenterBladeCenter PS704BladecenterPs704IBMIBM poer7ibm power 750 expressIBM Power 755IbmPoer7IbmPower750ExpressIbmPower755power 750 expressPower7power7 serverpower7 systempower7 systemsPower750ExpressPower7ServerPower7SystemPower7SystemspowerbookprocessorserverserversSuperComputersupercomputingWatsonTue, 12 Apr 2011 22:57:00 EST<![CDATA[Ken Jennings talks about losing to Watson, being human after all]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/18/ken-jennings-talks-about-losing-to-watson-being-human-after-all/http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/18/ken-jennings-talks-about-losing-to-watson-being-human-after-all/http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/18/ken-jennings-talks-about-losing-to-watson-being-human-after-all/#comments In a piece for Slate titled "My Puny Human Brain," former-Jeopardy-greatest Ken Jennings talks briefly through his experience playing against IBM's Watson. If you were hoping for some sour grapes, you won't find it here, but Ken gives a great insight into what it feels like to be an underdog human up against a PR darling supercomputer. "Watson has lots in common with a top-ranked human Jeopardy! player: It's very smart, very fast, speaks in an uneven monotone, and has never known the touch of a woman." Ken wraps it up on an uplifting, humans-are-going-to-be-alright-after-all note, and we seem to have something in our eye...

Ken Jennings talks about losing to Watson, being human after all originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>editorialjeopardyken jenningsken+jennings+watsonKenJenningskenjenningswatsonop edOpEdslatesupercomputerwatsonFri, 18 Feb 2011 18:48:00 EST<![CDATA[Conan kills Watson, evening the score (video)]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/17/conan-kills-watson-evening-the-score-video/http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/17/conan-kills-watson-evening-the-score-video/http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/17/conan-kills-watson-evening-the-score-video/#comments Sure, IBM's Watson is able to beat humans to the buzzer on some lousy television game show. But how does the smarmy supercomputer hold up to the business end of a baseball bat wielded by a jealous husband with opposable thumbs? Click through the break for a taste of sweet, carbon-based revenge.

Continue reading Conan kills Watson, evening the score (video)

Conan kills Watson, evening the score (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Feb 2011 03:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>conanconan obrienConanObrienibmsupercomputervideowatsonThu, 17 Feb 2011 03:43:00 EST<![CDATA[Watson wins it all, humans still can do some other cool things]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/16/watson-wins-it-all-humans-still-can-do-some-other-cool-things/http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/16/watson-wins-it-all-humans-still-can-do-some-other-cool-things/http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/16/watson-wins-it-all-humans-still-can-do-some-other-cool-things/#comments In case you missed it, Watson won again tonight. He even got the Final Jeopardy question correct this time, a multi-layered reference to Bram Stroker that he bet $10k on. His final score over the two rounds ended up at $77,147 (Watson has this thing for betting strange amounts that usually end in a 7), while Ken Jennings got $24,000 and Brad Rutter did $21,600 -- both humans saving a bit of face after last round's stunning defeat. Watson will be giving his $1,000,000 winnings to charity.

So, a few things:
  1. We're totally surprised, in a larger theoretical sense, that a computer could win at Jeopardy.
  2. We're totally not surprised that Watson, the system built by IBM over the past few years at the expense of millions of dollars, actually succeeded at winning at Jeopardy.
  3. Computers have better reflexes than humans, as it turns out.
  4. Deal with it.
If you can't tell, we're having a little trouble processing all the emotions brought on by a Jeopardy win from IBM's Watson supercomputer. It's obvious that IBM's DeepQA research program has developed some of the most sophisticated natural language AI known to man. At the same time, Jeopardy questions aren't really that hard. As evidenced by watching these Watson-dominated matches, all three contestants knew the answer most of the time, but Watson was just quicker on the draw. Of course, it's no surprise that computers have quicker reflexes (even with the "handicap" of having to mechanically press the same style of clicker as Meatbag 001 and Meatbag 002), so why shouldn't Watson get to use his inbuilt advantage to the utmost? It seems like a fair fight to us.

The question of "who is better at Jeopardy" aside (trust us, it's Watson), the larger implications for the human race and our computer sidekicks are still unclear. Watson can currently answer simple trivia questions, sometimes couched in puns or minor riddles, with a decent level of accuracy. The answers themselves are no more than a high school student with Wikipedia access could pull off, and Watson has no way of knowing for sure when he's right. He lacks a solid, computer-readable database of "facts" like a Wolfram Alpha, or the incredible reasoning abilities of a human, instead relying on statistical analysis of vast amounts of text. When it comes to Jeopardy, it turns out to be Good Enough, which is actually a pretty incredible achievement in the world of AI, and we're sure we'll be finding out soon what other applications IBM thinks Watson is Good Enough at -- they're thinking everything from healthcare to the financial industry. Still, we're sure some of us clicker-speed-nit-pickers will remain unimpressed. Make sure to check out the Engadget Show tomorrow, where we'll be chatting up the creators of Watson about all this, but for now... 01000011 01101111 01101110 01100111 01110010 01100001 01110100 01110011 00100001

Watson wins it all, humans still can do some other cool things originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 22:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>deepqaibmjeopardysupercomputerwatsonWed, 16 Feb 2011 22:22:00 EST<![CDATA[Humans had a good run: Watson to debut on Jeopardy tonight]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/14/humans-had-a-good-run-watson-to-debut-on-jeopardy-tonight/http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/14/humans-had-a-good-run-watson-to-debut-on-jeopardy-tonight/http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/14/humans-had-a-good-run-watson-to-debut-on-jeopardy-tonight/#comments Today, tomorrow, and the 16th are the fateful days: IBM's Watson supercomputer will go head to head with Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings in this silly, human-devised game we call Jeopardy. It promises to be some kickass TV, at the very least, and a historic event if Watson can prevail over his fleshy competition. The two matches, which are being spread over the three days, were pre-taped, so Ken, Brad, Alex and Watson already know the outcome, but they've done a pretty good job of keeping the secret so far. Hopefully they can keep mum until 7pm-ish this evening (check your local listings for a specific time). Need something to keep you occupied until then? Check out the great Esquire feature on Ken Jennings at the More Coverage link below. Oh, and don't miss our coverage of last month's preview match.

Humans had a good run: Watson to debut on Jeopardy tonight originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Feb 2011 12:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>brad rutterBradRutteribmjeopardyken jenningsKenJenningssupercomputerwatsonMon, 14 Feb 2011 12:50:00 EST<![CDATA[IBM's Mira supercomputer does ten petaflops with ease, inches us closer to exascale-class computing]]>http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/09/ibms-mira-supercomputer-does-ten-petaflops-with-ease-inches-us/http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/09/ibms-mira-supercomputer-does-ten-petaflops-with-ease-inches-us/http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/09/ibms-mira-supercomputer-does-ten-petaflops-with-ease-inches-us/#comments Say hello to the Blue Gene/Q, or if you're looking for something a bit less intimidating, "Mira." That's IBM's latest and greatest concoction, a ten-petaflop supercomputer capable of running programs at ten quadrillion calculations a second. Hard to say who'd win between Mira and Watson, of course, but there's absolutely no question who'd come out on top if Mira were pitted against her predecessor Intrepid (hint: Mira's 20x faster). To put this all in perspective, IBM's chiming in with this:
"If every man, woman and child in the United States performed one calculation each second, it would take them almost a year to do as many calculations as Mira will do in one second."
Mira's next stop is at the US Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, where it'll be used to tackle 16 projects in particular that were drawn from a pool of proposals to gain access to her capabilities. We're told that these include a range of initiatives -- from reducing energy inefficiencies in transportation and developing advanced engine designs to spurring advances in energy technologies -- and in time, it could lead to exascale-class computers "that will be faster than petascale-class computers by a factor of a thousand." And here we are getting excited about a 5GHz Core i7.

Continue reading IBM's Mira supercomputer does ten petaflops with ease, inches us closer to exascale-class computing

IBM's Mira supercomputer does ten petaflops with ease, inches us closer to exascale-class computing originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Feb 2011 11:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ArgonneArgonne National LaboratoryArgonneNationalLaboratoryblue geneBlue GeneQBlueGeneBlueGeneqdepartment of energyDepartmentOfEnergydoeexascaleibmmirasciencesupercomputerusWed, 09 Feb 2011 11:23:00 EST<![CDATA[IBM's Watson supercomputer will play Jeopardy! on these dates]]>http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/14/ibms-watson-supercomputer-will-play-jeopardy-on-these-dates/http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/14/ibms-watson-supercomputer-will-play-jeopardy-on-these-dates/http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/14/ibms-watson-supercomputer-will-play-jeopardy-on-these-dates/#comments
What are February 14th, 15th, and 16th? We've known it was going to happen for a while, but now we know when to set our DVRs. A rack of servers -- soaked with natural-language processing, armed with a battalion of esoteric pop culture knowledge, and "represented by a round avatar" -- will face off against Jeopardy! millionaires Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter (both profiled in video after the break) for three days starting on Valentine's Day 2011. We're also hearing that Watson will sign autographs after it's done decimating its opponents. It will then donate all its winnings to charity and spend the rest of its natural life dodging paparazzi on an undisclosed beach in the South Pacific.

[Photo from Ben Sisto's flickr]

Continue reading IBM's Watson supercomputer will play Jeopardy! on these dates

IBM's Watson supercomputer will play Jeopardy! on these dates originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Dec 2010 14:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>brad rutterBradRutteribmjeopardyken jenningsKenJenningssupercomputertelevisiontvvalentines dayValentinesDayvideowatsonTue, 14 Dec 2010 14:46:00 EST<![CDATA[IBM breakthrough brings us one step closer to exascale computing, even more intense chess opponents]]>http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/01/ibm-breakthrough-brings-us-one-step-closer-to-exascale-computing/http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/01/ibm-breakthrough-brings-us-one-step-closer-to-exascale-computing/http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/01/ibm-breakthrough-brings-us-one-step-closer-to-exascale-computing/#commentsThe path to exascale computing is a long and windy one, and it's dangerously close to slipping into our shunned bucket of "awesome things that'll never happen." But we'll hand it to IBM -- those guys and gals are working to create a smarter planet, and against our better judgment, we actually think they're onto something here. Scientists at the outfit recently revealed "a new chip technology that integrates electrical and optical devices on the same piece of silicon, enabling computer chips to communicate using pulses of light (instead of electrical signals), resulting in smaller, faster and more power-efficient chips than is possible with conventional technologies." The new tech is labeled CMOS Integrated Silicon Nanophotonics, and if executed properly, it could lead to exaflop-level computing, or computers that could handle one million trillion calculations per second. In other words, your average exascale computer would operate around one thousand times faster than the fastest machine today, and would almost certainly give Garry Kasparov all he could stand. When asked to comment on the advancement, Dr. Yurii A. Vlasov, Manager of the Silicon Nanophotonics Department at IBM Research, nodded and uttered the following quip: "I'm am IBMer, and exascale tomfoolery is what I'm working on."*

*Not really, but you believed it, didn't you?

IBM breakthrough brings us one step closer to exascale computing, even more intense chess opponents originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Dec 2010 22:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>CMOSCMOS Integrated Silicon NanophotonicsCmosIntegratedSiliconNanophotonicscomputingExascaleIBMlightNanophotonicsnanotechnanotechnologyprocessorsiliconsupercomputersupercomputingWed, 01 Dec 2010 22:56:00 EST<![CDATA[China's Tianhe-1A is world's fastest supercomputer, plans to usurp the West now complete]]>http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/28/chinas-tianhe-1a-is-now-worlds-fastest-supercomputer-plans-to/http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/28/chinas-tianhe-1a-is-now-worlds-fastest-supercomputer-plans-to/http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/28/chinas-tianhe-1a-is-now-worlds-fastest-supercomputer-plans-to/#comments It happened. China just passed the US and the world with the reveal of the world's fastest supercomputer. The fully operational Tianhe-1A, located at the National Supercomputer Center in Tianjin, scored 2.507 petaflops as measured by the LINPACK benchmark. That moves it past Cray's 2.3 petaflops Jaguar located at Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee. Tianhe-1A achieved the record using 7,168 NVIDIA Tesla M2050 GPUs and 14,336 Intel Xeon CPUs consuming 4.04 megawatts. Knowing that 10 petaflops is within reach by 2012, we'll see if Tianhe-1A can maintain its title when the new Top500 supercomputers list is released next week.

China's Tianhe-1A is world's fastest supercomputer, plans to usurp the West now complete originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Oct 2010 01:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>chinacrayfastestjaguarlinpackm2050National Supercomputer CenterNationalSupercomputerCenternvidiapetaflopssupercomputerteslatesla m2050TeslaM2050tianhe-1atianjinworlds fastestWorldsFastestThu, 28 Oct 2010 01:21:00 EST<![CDATA[Fujitsu K supercomputer will do 10 petaflops in 2012, eat Crays for breakfast]]>http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/28/fujitsu-k-supercomputer-will-do-10-petaflops-in-2012-eat-crays/http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/28/fujitsu-k-supercomputer-will-do-10-petaflops-in-2012-eat-crays/http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/28/fujitsu-k-supercomputer-will-do-10-petaflops-in-2012-eat-crays/#comments10's a nice round number, isn't it? Round, yes, but also wildly impressive when you put the word "petaflops" behind it as Fujitsu has done with its upcoming K supercomputer, which will be able to crunch through 10 quadrillion operations every second. Compare that to the current champ of processing farms, Cray's Jaguar, which can handle only (only!) 1.75 petaflops of workload and you'll know that we're talking about a seminal leap in performance. Japan's Riken Research Institute is the fortunate addressee on the crates of ultrafast SPARC64 VIIIfx processors that Fujitsu is now shipping out and the current plan is to have everything up and running by 2012. In total, there'll be 80,000 CPUs, each possessing 8 cores running at 2.2GHz, which will be housed within 800 racks. So yes, there'll be a machine somewhere on the Japanese isle with 640,000 processing cores at its disposal. Feeling safe?

Fujitsu K supercomputer will do 10 petaflops in 2012, eat Crays for breakfast originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Sep 2010 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>10 petaflops10Petaflops45nm8-corefujitsufujitsu kFujitsu K SupercomputerFujitsuKFujitsuKSupercomputerjapanmulticorepetaflopsrikenriken research instituteRikenResearchInstitutesparc 64sparc 64 viiifxSparc64Sparc64ViiifxsupercomputerTue, 28 Sep 2010 10:01:00 EST<![CDATA[MIT app turns your Android phone into a supercomputer... of sorts]]>http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/06/mit-app-turns-your-android-phone-into-a-supercomputer-of-sort/http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/06/mit-app-turns-your-android-phone-into-a-supercomputer-of-sort/http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/06/mit-app-turns-your-android-phone-into-a-supercomputer-of-sort/#commentsOh, sure -- a few people have called Google's Nexus One a "superphone," but suddenly, that nickname has taken on a whole new level of meaning. A team of talent from MIT has put its head down in order to concoct a new Android application that can come darn close to solving complex computational problems in just a fraction of the time that it'd take a bona fide supercomputer. The goal here is to let researchers and scientists convert to Google's mobile OS, but if you aren't falling for that one, it's also designed to "let engineers perform complicated calculations in the field, and to better control systems for vehicles or robotic systems." Of course, the models that are hosted on the phone do require a supercomputer to create, but once certain formulas are embedded, the app can then compute approximations in mere seconds rather than hours. Best of all, rbAPPmit is available for download as well speak in the source link below, but we'd probably wait for the (presumably thick) user guide to surface before diving in headfirst.

[Thanks, Alasdair]

MIT app turns your Android phone into a supercomputer... of sorts originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>mitrbAPPmitsupercomputerSupercomputingMon, 06 Sep 2010 17:10:00 EST<![CDATA[Inhabitat's Week in Green: solar robots that fly, CO2 fabric dye, and the dark silicon that boosts battery life]]>http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/05/inhabitats-week-in-green-solar-robots-that-fly-co2-fabric-dye/http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/05/inhabitats-week-in-green-solar-robots-that-fly-co2-fabric-dye/http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/05/inhabitats-week-in-green-solar-robots-that-fly-co2-fabric-dye/#commentsEach week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.

Solar power blazed a trail this week as we took a look at several hot new technologies, starting with SkyFuel's SkyTrough, which is being billed as the world's most efficient solar collector. We also saw solar energy take to the skies as designers unveiled plans for a fleet of high-flying solar robots, and we were surprised to learn that common household dyes could significantly increase the efficiency of photovoltaic panels by optimizing their color absorption spectrum.

Speaking of dye, from the realm of wearable tech we also brought you a breakthrough new technique for dying fabric that saves water by utilizing fluid CO2. We also saw a prototype for a wired "safe cuddling" suit for kids that wards off improper touching by sounding an alarm, and if you're a fan of high-tech footwear, check out these tricked-out kicks that do double duty as Wii controllers.

This week also saw a tremendous green boost for bits and bytes as the University of Leicester switched on its hyper-efficient ALICE supercomputer, which is ten times more powerful than its predecessor and stands to reduce yearly CO2 emissions by 800 tons. Meanwhile, researchers at UC San Diego revealed work on a new mobile phone chip that harnesses "dark silicon" to boost smartphone battery life by a factor of eleven.

We also showcased several efficient autos as Southern California rolled out a fleet of all electric buses that can recharge in 10 minutes flat, and the hyper-miling Avion car embarked on a trip from Canada to Mexico with just 14 gallons of gas. And if you'll be doing some traveling of your own back to school this fall, you wont want to miss this chance to pick up an awesome solar-powered Sakku satchel. Finally, with Labor Day on its way why not upgrade your BBQ with an adorable altoids tin mini grill - it's curiously awesome!

Inhabitat's Week in Green: solar robots that fly, CO2 fabric dye, and the dark silicon that boosts battery life originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Sep 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ALICEAvioncarbon dioxideCarbonDioxideCO2electric buselectric vehicleElectricBusElectricVehicleevinhabitatinhabitats week in greenInhabitatsWeekInGreenSakkuSkyFuelSkyTroughsolarsolar powerSolarPowersupercomputerUniversity of LeicesterUniversityOfLeicesterweek in greenWeekInGreenSun, 05 Sep 2010 21:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Homebrew Cray-1A emulates the iconic supercomputer, to no useful purpose]]>http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/31/homebrew-cray-1a-emulates-the-iconic-supercomputer-to-no-useful/http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/31/homebrew-cray-1a-emulates-the-iconic-supercomputer-to-no-useful/http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/31/homebrew-cray-1a-emulates-the-iconic-supercomputer-to-no-useful/#comments
The Cray-1A first made the scene in 1976, weighing 5.5 tons (including the refrigeration system) and running at 80MHz -- with a whopping 8MB RAM. Who wouldn't want to own one -- or a miniature version of one, for that matter? Chris Fenton would, apparently. Yes, it's that Chris Fenton -- the electrical engineer who once made a $50 laptop out of a PICAXE 18X Microcontroller and 96 bytes of RAM (and some wood). And he's back with a 1/10-scale Cray-1A. And unlike a similar project we've seen in the past, this bad boy runs a custom Cray emulator (too bad there doesn't seem to be any Cray software floating around). Wild, huh? Get the whole scoop (and some pointers if you want to roll your own) after the break.

Homebrew Cray-1A emulates the iconic supercomputer, to no useful purpose originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>awesomechris fentonChrisFentoncraycray supercomputerCraySupercomputerdiyhomebrewretrosupercomputerTue, 31 Aug 2010 15:29:00 EST