Computer Hardware Terms, Glossary and Dictionary

Supercomputer refers to the very fast computer that is specialized for applications requiring immense amounts of mathematical calculations. The term supercomputer itself is rather fluid, and today's supercomputer tends to become tomorrow's also-ran. Typically, supercomputers are used in weather forecasting, animated graphics, fluid dynamic calculations, nuclear energy research, and petroleum exploration. As of March 25, 2005, the fastest supercomputer in a single installation is IBM's Blue Gene/L prototype, with 32,768 processors. It is capable of 135.5 TFLOPS. The Blue Gene/L prototype is a customized version of IBM's PowerPC architecture.

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supercomputer