China’s plans for a new supercomputer
This is not too surprising for China is making leaps and bounds in the technology field. The biggest project, as of now, is trying to get a man into space. That’s another story… They’re driven to make a name in the science/technology arena and in a big way. A supercomputer would be a logical tool to help them reach that goal.
Chip giant Intel Wednesday teamed with China’s Ministry of Education to build a national computing grid–a network of computers harnessed to work together.
When the grid is completed, the MOE expects it to have performance of more than 15 teraflops, or trillions of calculations per second, making it one of the world’s most powerful high-performance computing grids, according to a statement from Intel.
Intel will work with server vendors starting this year to provide the schools with computers equipped with the chipmaker’s Itanium 2 processors.
Completion of the project is slated for some time in 2006. At that time, 100 universities will be connected. The grid will be used to help make advances in various fields.
The grid will be used for work in life sciences, the petroleum industry, earthquake research and commercial financial projects.
It will also be used to help power the “Digital Olympics” initiative, to support the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Building the most powerful supercomputer is like a game of leapfrog. As soon as your machine is up and running, the next one is nearing completion. I have recently seen remarks about the world being a covered by massive grid supercomputers. It looks like we are seeing the start.
Source: CNET News.com