Human work done over 57,000 years would be accomplished in one second flat by a wonder computer developed by the US
THE US is likely to build the world's
fastest supercomputer capable of carrying out 1.8 trillion calculations a second
- to ensure that it never again needs to
carry out underground nuclear tests.
The us $46 million computer will be
built for the us Department of Energy by
Intel, the world's largest chip maker,
together with State-owned national laboratories.
It would take a mere mortal working
around the clock for 57,000 years to
carry out calculations which the computer will do in one second. It will be as
powerful as the largest 56-,000 mainframe Computers in the world put
together.
At its heart will be Intel's P6 microprocessor, due later this year to replace
the company's high performance
Pentium chip, used in many of today's
personal computers.
The new supercomputer will use
9,000 P6 chips linked together to create
whit is known in the industry as a 'massively parallel processor" capable of 1.8
trillion calculations a second. But in
comparison, a single top-end Pentium
chip manages just 150 million.
The us Government's Sandia
National Laboratory, which is working
with Intel on the project, already owns
one of the two fastest computers - an
Intel Paragon capable of 140 billion calculations a second. Oak Ridge, another
us lab, has one which does 150 billion a
second.
The supercomputer is needed to fulfill President Clinton's recent pledge
that us nuclear weapon safety will be
maintained without resorting to underground testing. France says its current
nuclear test programme, which is facing
worldwide opposition, is needed to garner the information to enable it to
witch to computer-based simulation of
nuclear tests.
cllomputer simulation will be a
principal means for ensuring the safety,
reliability and effectiveness of the us
nuclear deterrent," said Victor Reis,
assistant secretary for energy pro-
grammes at the us Department of Eriergy.
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