Japan to dominate super computers for a while

Fujitsu has just presented an improved version of their K super computer, which was only recently unveiled, with this update to keep them at the top of the TOP500 for a while.

Fujitsu took advantage of the ISC’11 conference which took place in Hamburg, Germany last June to unveil their K super computer (to the right).

Powered by 68 544 processors, the engine has a processing power of 8,162 petaflops, which corresponds to 8 162 million billions operations per second, making this the most powerful computer in the world. It has been planned for use to assist in the fields of climate change, medicine, weather and the prevention of natural disasters.

But the Japanese company hasn’t stopped here as they have promised improved performance, with their K super computer having now been finalised (in November). With the complete package now available, it comes with a total of 88 128 processors for power approaching 10 petaflops.

This means that the will be able to maintain their TOP 500 first place for a while – with this being the global super computer ranking.

It should be for a while, as the United States  have ordered the Titan super computer for early 2013, with processing power which should reach 20 petaflops the server is to be used in the research of future energy technologies like biofuels and solar energy.

This is without counting the Chinese who have also entered the race, with the first model completely designed in China being unveiled recently. Named Sunway BlueLight MPP (to the left), this can at the moment reach 1 petaflop. As for its use, China is looking to put it to work on financial analysis, the development of new medicines, weather forecasting, marine science and industrial simulation.