US to Enlist 20-Petaflop IBM Supercomputer for Nuke Management Duty
The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has tapped IBM (NYSE: IBM) to build a massive new supercomputer that will deliver a record-breaking 20 petaflops of computing power.
The proposed supercomputer is nicknamed "Sequoia," and it'll come with 500 teraflop sidekick, Dawn. Both computers will be delivered to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory where, according to NNSA, they'll "help continue to ensure the safety and reliability of the nation's aging nuclear deterrent."
IBM will deliver Dawn in the first quarter of 2009. Dawn is based on IBM's BlueGene/P architecture, while Sequoia, which will be deployed in 2012, is based on a future BlueGene technology. Details are sparse, but IBM said Sequoia will include 1.6 million IBM Power processors housed in 96 refrigerator-sized racks. It'll take up 3,422 square feet of data center space, and it'll also be more powerful than the combined performance of all the systems on today's list of TOP500 supercomputers.
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