supercomputers
Fastest processing machines
Supercomputers are the most powerful computing machines in existence at any given time, designed to perform calculations at speeds far beyond ordinary computers.
They tackle problems requiring massive computational power: climate modeling, nuclear simulations, cryptography, and scientific research.
The weather service runs its forecasts on a supercomputer.
What qualifies as a supercomputer shifts over time, as today's supercomputer becomes tomorrow's ordinary hardware.
Grouped collections
- nodesPoints of connection
- interconnectsJoins separate things together
- racksFrames for storing items
- coolingLosing thermal energy
processors · GPUs · memory · storage · circuitry · blade · mainframe · vector
Quadrillion floating-point operations per second
- teraflopsComputational speed unit
- throughputProcessing rate over time
- latencyDelay in system response
- bandwidthData transmission capacity
benchmarking · gigahertz · parallelism · pipelining · cache · cores · processors · acceleration
Systematic examination of datasets
- petabytesHuge data measurement unit
- exabytesQuintillion-byte units
- processingSystematic operation on data
- visualizationForming mental or graphical images
Study of entire genetic sequences
- bioinformaticsComputational analysis of genetic data
- CERNEuropean nuclear research organization
- neuroscienceStudy of nervous systems
- epidemiologyStudy of disease spread
Assigned task volume
- algorithmsFinite instruction sequences
- vectorizationLoop-free array computation
Physics of celestial bodies
- cosmologyStudy of universal structure
- aerodynamicsPhysics of air motion
- seismicRelating to ground tremors
- turbulenceChaotic flow patterns
clusters
Grouped collections
- nodesPoints of connection
- interconnectsJoins separate things together
- racksFrames for storing items
cooling · processors · GPUs · memory · storage · circuitry · blade · mainframe · vector · distributed
petaflops
Quadrillion floating-point operations per second
- teraflopsComputational speed unit
- throughputProcessing rate over time
- latencyDelay in system response
bandwidth · benchmarking · gigahertz · parallelism · pipelining · cache · cores · processors · acceleration · optimization
analytics
Systematic examination of datasets
- petabytesHuge data measurement unit
- exabytesQuintillion-byte units
- processingSystematic operation on data
genomics
Study of entire genetic sequences
- bioinformaticsComputational analysis of genetic data
- CERNEuropean nuclear research organization
- neuroscienceStudy of nervous systems
workload
Assigned task volume
- algorithmsFinite instruction sequences
- vectorizationLoop-free array computation
astrophysics
Physics of celestial bodies
- cosmologyStudy of universal structure
- aerodynamicsPhysics of air motion
- seismicRelating to ground tremors
- parallel computingmultiprocessors, shared memory, UPC, Linda, Occam
- computerscomputers, desktop, desktops, laptop, laptops
- Big ScienceCERN, Large Hadron Collider, LHC, particle accelerator, synchrotron
- cyberinfrastructurenetwork infrastructure, data centers, university networks, backbone, middleware
- weather modelingweather prediction, weather modeling, forecast models, forecasting, forecasts
- technologyelectronics, internet, social media, computers, smartphone
supercomputerscalculators
Electronic computation devices
personal computers · laptops · smartphones · netbooks · embedded systems
supercomputershome computers
Residential computing machines
consumer electronics · portable devices · handheld devices · minicomputers · microcomputers
supercomputersabacus
Bead-and-wire arithmetic tool
pencil and paper · mental arithmetic · slide rule · tally sticks · adding machines