President Obama has created the National Strategic Computing Initiative to help the country lead in the development of High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems. He issued an executive order Wednesday for US to build the world’s fastest supercomputer.
The initiative includes two key goals. First: to increase the speed of calculations to one exaflop (1018 arithmetic operations per second). This is about 30 times quicker than today’s fastest machines, according to Wired. Second: to “efficiently manipulate vast and rapidly increasing quantities of both numerical and non-numerical data.” To date, the use of HPC has focused on simulating complex natural and technological systems, such as “galaxies, weather and climate, molecular interactions, and electric power grids,” according to the White House press release. The computer could also aid the development of personalized medicines, tailored to specific individuals, Richard Kenway, a mathematical physicist at the University of Edinburgh in Britain told the BBC.
Wired reports this initiative will “bring together scientists and government agencies such as the Department of Energy, Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation to create a common agenda for pushing the field forward.”…….
See full story on www.businessinsider.my
Image: Carlye Calvin/UCAR