History of supercomputing: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:57, 3 August 2023

Revision as of 19:38, 9 August 2023

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The [[IBM]] [[Blue Gene]] supercomputer architecture found widespread use in the early part of the 21st century, and 27 of the computers on the [[TOP500]] list used that architecture. The Blue Gene approach is somewhat different in that it trades processor speed for low power consumption so that a larger number of processors can be used at air cooled temperatures. It can use over 60,000 processors, with 2048 processors "per rack", and connects them via a three-dimensional torus interconnect.<ref>{{cite conference | title = Early Experience with Scientific Applications on the Blue Gene/L Supercomputer | first = George | last = Almasi | collaboration = et al. | work = Euro-Par 2005 parallel processing: 11th International Euro-Par Conference | editor1-first = José Cardoso | editor1-last = Cunha | editor2-first = Pedro D. | editor2-last = Medeiros | year = 2005 | pages = 560–567 | isbn = 9783540319252 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=RCEHCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA560}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | title = IBM uncloaks 20 petaflops BlueGene/Q super | url = https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/22/ibm_blue_gene_q_super/ | work = The Register | date = 22 November 2010 | first = Timothy Prickett | last = Morgan}}</ref>

Progress in [[China]] has been rapid, in that China placed 51st on the TOP500 list in June 2003, then 14th in November 2003, and 10th in June 2004 and then 5th during 2005, before gaining the top spot in 2010 with the 2.5&nbsp;petaflop [[Tianhe-I]] supercomputer.<ref name=Graham >{{cite book | title = Getting up to speed: the future of supercomputing | url = https://archive.org/details/gettinguptospeed00grah | url-access = limited | first1 = Susan L. | last1 = Graham |first2 = Marc | last2 = Snir | first3 =Cynthia A. | last3 = Patterson | year = 2005 | isbn =0-309-09502-6 | page=[https://archive.org/details/gettinguptospeed00grah/page/n204 188]}}</ref><ref name=NYTimesTianhe >{{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/28/technology/28compute.html | title = China Wrests Supercomputer Title From U.S. | work = The New York Times | first = Ashlee | last = Vance |author-link=Ashlee Vance | date = 28 October 2010 | access-date = 20 February 2018}}</ref>

In July 2011, the 8.1&nbsp;petaflop Japanese [[K computer]] became the fastest in the world, using over 60,000 [[SPARC64 V#SPARC64 VIIIfx|SPARC64 VIIIfx]] processors housed in over 600 cabinets. The fact that the K computer is over 60 times faster than the Earth Simulator, and that the Earth Simulator ranks as the 68th system in the world seven years after holding the top spot, demonstrates both the rapid increase in top performance and the widespread growth of supercomputing technology worldwide.<ref name=tele20611>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8586655/Japanese-supercomputer-K-is-worlds-fastest.html|title=Japanese supercomputer 'K' is world's fastest|access-date=20 June 2011|work=The Telegraph|date=20 June 2011}}</ref><ref name=nyt20611>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/20/technology/20computer.html|title=Japanese 'K' Computer Is Ranked Most Powerful|access-date=20 June 2011|work=The New York Times|date=20 June 2011}}</ref><ref name=fujnr>{{cite web|url=http://www.fujitsu.com/global/news/pr/archives/month/2011/20110620-02.html|title=Supercomputer 'K computer' Takes First Place in World|access-date=20 June 2011|publisher=Fujitsu}}</ref> By 2014, the Earth Simulator had dropped off the list and by 2018 the K computer had dropped out of the top 10. By 2018, [[Summit (supercomputer)|Summit]] had become the world's most powerful supercomputer, at 200 petaFLOPS. In 2020, the Japanese once again took the top spot with the [[Fugaku (supercomputer)|Fugaku supercomputer]], capable of 442 PFLOPS.