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In 1998 the U.S.
Department of Energy, as part of its Accelerated
Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI), turned to IBM in its quest to eliminate
live nuclear testing without compromising the nation's safety and security. Using
funds previously spent on the construction of nuclear weapons, the DOE engaged
IBM to build the world's fastest supercomputer. Its purpose: to enable the government
to test its nuclear capability using three-dimensional modeling and simulations,
not bombs. |
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ASCI White will possess
more than 160 trillion bytes of IBM disk storage capacity, holding 16,000 times
more data than the average desktop PC. At a peak computational performance of
12.28 teraflops, or trillions of calculations per second, it could simultaneously
process web transactions for every man, woman, and child on the planet in one
minute.
ASCI White is a 512-node
RS/6000 SP, 1000 times more powerful than the "Deep
Blue" supercomputer that defeated chess grand master Garry Kasparov in a celebrated
1997 match, and capable of solving in one second what a human being with a calculator
would need 10 million years to figure out. The new RS/6000 SP requires more than
a little space to house the 2,000 miles of copper wiring contained in the microprocessors
needed for its demanding tasks—an area the size of two basketball courts, in
fact.
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ASCI White's technology
has beneficial uses far in excess of its original mandate—medicine, aerospace
and automotive design, weather forecasting, and online banking are just some of
the fields in which it plays a major role. ASCI White's backbone is a system already
in use by more than 100,000 commercial and technical customers around the world: RS/6000 servers. RS/6000 servers have helped streamline the operations of such diverse businesses and government agencies as aircraft manufacturer Airbus Industrie, energy provider Union Gas, and the National Weather Service.
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The technological strength of ASCI White is available to all types of companies. The ASCI White system components are incorporated into IBM's leading UNIX server line: the RS6000 as well as integrated into IBM's latest version of the RS/6000 SP. Organizations from dot.com startups to large corporate data centers find all the power very appealing in solving their pressing business issues. This power, now available from IBM, will allow your company to reduce your costs and increase your speed in the ever changing e-business market.
To find out more about how this technology can help your organization, follow The Journey, review Competitive Edge and Contact IBM
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12.3 trillion calculations/second (teraflops) | |
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8,192 copper microprocessors | |
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6.2 terabytes memory | |
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512 RS/6000 375MHz POWER3 SMP High Nodes | |
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IBM AIX operating system | |
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