Types of Supercomputers

Supercomputers are known best for their sheer power and massive storage capabilities. Their task is to process large, complex problems at high speed. Early supercomputers had a single, enormous CPU; today, it is possible to have up to eight CPUs, which may be used for different purposes or all applied to a single computing task. All the other computers we've discussed operate at speeds measured in millions of instruction per second; a supercomputer performs billions of operations per second. An operation is a set of instructions or a programming statement. With supercomputers, an operation is often a complex mathematical equation called floating point operation.

Therefore, we often refer to supercomputer performance in FLOPS, for floating point operations per second. A supercomputer that can perform at 2 billion floating point operations per second is referred to as having 2-gigaflops performance. Supercomputers are made by Cray, IBM, Fujitsu, and several others. The market for supercomputers has grown beyond the research laboratory as many businesses have found uses for supercomputers as well .

Using Supercomputers

Supercomputers are often used to solve complex mathematical problems — for example, calculating a prime number (one that is divisible only by 1 and itself) or the distance between planets. But computers permit turning many other problems into numbers, such as molecular modeling, geographic modeling, and image processing.

A Cray X-MP supercomputer was used to help make a movie called The Last Starfighter. Computer animation isn't new, but using the X-MP added a whole new dimension of sophistication. Its most remarkable accomplishment was creating the entire bridge of the alien starship, complete with animated aliens walking around next to real actors. Because the Cray could process the image in incredibly fine detail, the average viewer would think it looked absolutely real. The X-MP allowed animators to make illusion as convincing as reality itself. Less dramatic but of far greater importance was the role a Cray supercomputer played in the San Francisco earthquake on October 17, 1989. Frieder Seible, associate director of the Powell Structural Systems Laboratory, used the Cray at the San Diego Supercomputing Center to build a model of the I-880 freeway that had collapsed. By subjecting the model to earthquakelike vibrations, he was able to determine within two days what joint had failed, causing the upper deck to collapse. This information was used by the transportation department officials to decide on closing several other highway structures.

Tomorrow a Chilly Supercomputer

In 1962, an English computer scientist named Brian Josephson came up with an idea for a way to make electronic circuits work faster. The circuit, called the Josephson Junction, takes advantage of a weird property electrons have when they get very cold: they move through circuits much faster than they ordinarily would. The Josephson Junction is similar to an integrated circuit but with a difference: it is cooled to 4 degrees above absolute zero. At this superconducting temperature, the circuit uses one ten-thousandth the energy of a regular circuit and operates at speeds 10 to 100 times faster than the fastest computer in existence. Fujitsu has built logic circuits using Josephson Junctions. Research is underway at IBM to create a Josephson supercomputer the size of a baseball that will consume no more electricity than a 60-watt light bulb.