IBM Sequoia = 20X Faster Supercomputer

In the world of supercomputing, everyone always watches who is on the Top 500 list. Every once in a while something comes along that really dominates the old number 1, doubling or tripling its capacity.

The new IBM Sequoia is 20x faster than the old number 1. Specifically, 20 petaflops instead of 1.

IBM released some info on how to wrap your head around the numbers:

• If each of the 6.7 billion people on earth had a hand calculator and worked together on a calculation 24 hours per day, 365 days a year, it would take 320 years to do what Sequoia will do in one hour. (that's pretty incredible)

• 20 petaflops could offer a 50x improvement in our capability to predict earthquakes, allowing scientists to predict an earthquake's effects on a building-by-building basis across an area as large as Los Angeles County.

• 20 petaflops could also provide a 40x improvement in our capability to monitor and forecast weather. This would allow forecasters to predict local weather events that affect areas 100 meters to one kilometer in size, down from their current ten-kilometer ability.

As I think I have said before, it always is sad to hear that this newest greatest computer will be used primarily for the modeling nukes. Why NASA does not build itself a couple of these I dont understand. That said, why we dont build more of these for science in general is beyond me.