Argonne National Laboratory will be using a new IBM supercomputer that can run 10 quadrillion calculations per second. Yes, quadrillion.
By way of comparison, IBM said that if every man, woman and child in the U.S. performed one calculation each second, they would need almost one year to run as many calculations as the new “Mira” computer can do in one second.
The computer system will be operational in 2012, IBM said Tuesday, and is 20 times faster than Argonne’s current supercomputer. Argonne and the Department of Energy picked 16 projects from a group of proposals that will have first crack at Mira. These projects will study energy technologies such as developing more efficient electric car batteries, as well as global climate change and other topics.
“Computation and supercomputing are critical to solving some of our greatest scientific challenges, like advancing clean energy and understanding the Earth’s climate,” Rick Stevens, Argonne’s associate laboratory director for computing, environment and life sciences, said in a statement.
The Mira supercomputer is designed to handle complex simulations that involve massive amounts of variables and calculations, and the new system represents a significant leap over current computing power. The current generation of supercomputers needs about two years to run a simulation of how a beating human heart reacts to new medicine, IBM said. The new supercomputer can do the same simulation in two days.
Dave Turek, vice president of deep computing at IBM, said his company wants to build a supercomputer that’s 100 times faster than the new system within 10 years.
“That’s going to require dramatic amounts of innovation that aren’t going to come just by waiting for the industry to mosey along and do things at its own pace,” Turek said.
Turek said energy, reliability and space are key design criteria for building supercomputers. The Mira system can fit in about 1,000 square feet, so Argonne and other laboratories that use the supercomputer won’t need to build a new facility for it. Energy efficiency is also paramount. Turek said some supercomputers built by other companies can generate an annual electricity bill of $10 million.
“Left unchecked, that number grows and grows and grows,” he said. “That’s the real design challenge, fitting everything in an energy affordability envelope.”
wawong@tribune.com
