Mira. That is her name. She is the supercomputer IBM Corp is building for US department of energy's Argonne National Lab. IBM says, Mira will make more than 10 quadrillion (1 quadrillion = 1000 trillion) calculations a second, four times faster than China's Tianhe-1A, currently considered the fastest. The world's fastest supercomputer-tobe will make its debut next year.
According to reports, if the enture population of the US does one calculation per seond, it will take them a year to run as many calculations as Mira can do in one second. Named after the Latin root to wonder or marvel, Mira is expected to cost roughly $50 million, according to reports. Herb Schultz, market manager for IBM Deep Computing says, But IBM does not comment on the price of its client's systems. Neither has Argonne National Lab made that information available to date. Argonne's current supercomputer Intrepid makes more than 500 trillion calculations a second. Mira will be 20 times faster.
Schultz told The Economic Times, "Many systems can do the same calculations, but Mira can do them faster and do more per unit time. Because of that, a scientist on Mira can gain greater insight by virture of examining more time steps in models and simulations". IBM expects Mira to help department of energy (DOE) to do several complex calculations and be a "strong science and technology engine that will fuel national innovation".
Schultz says, "Our goal is not to develop a system that is number one on a list. Our goal is to help Argonne advance its research, which will contribute significantly to society". Argonne National Lab is one of USDOE's olderst and largest labs for science and engineering research.
The 10-petaflop Mira, which falls under IBM's "Blue Gene/Q" series of supercomputers, will be made available to scientists from industry, academia and government research facilities around the world, according to reports. It will mean a lot to business, as well.
Dan Olds, an analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group in Beaverton, Oregon, says, "Wall Street will use those computers tp analyse their portfolios to see what will happen if interest rates do this or that. (Pharmaceutical) retailers can use them to track cold and flu season, so they know how much tissue or Nyquil to stock in particular stores at particular times".
In fact, IBM sees Mira-which it expects to help design advanced electric car batteries and similar energy-efficient technologies, among others-as a stepping stone to its next generation of supercomputers that will be 1000 times faster.
Schultz told The Economic Times, "Many systems can do the same calculations, but Mira can do them faster and do more per unit time. Because of that, a scientist on Mira can gain greater insight by virture of examining more time steps in models and simulations". IBM expects Mira to help department of energy (DOE) to do several complex calculations and be a "strong science and technology engine that will fuel national innovation".
Schultz says, "Our goal is not to develop a system that is number one on a list. Our goal is to help Argonne advance its research, which will contribute significantly to society". Argonne National Lab is one of USDOE's olderst and largest labs for science and engineering research.
The 10-petaflop Mira, which falls under IBM's "Blue Gene/Q" series of supercomputers, will be made available to scientists from industry, academia and government research facilities around the world, according to reports. It will mean a lot to business, as well.
Dan Olds, an analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group in Beaverton, Oregon, says, "Wall Street will use those computers tp analyse their portfolios to see what will happen if interest rates do this or that. (Pharmaceutical) retailers can use them to track cold and flu season, so they know how much tissue or Nyquil to stock in particular stores at particular times".
In fact, IBM sees Mira-which it expects to help design advanced electric car batteries and similar energy-efficient technologies, among others-as a stepping stone to its next generation of supercomputers that will be 1000 times faster.
