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Largest Privately Owned Supercomputer

Posted by timothy on from the beats-the-basement-beowulf-rack dept.

GORMUR writes "IBM has launched its Watson Blue Gene system, the largest privately owned supercompuer seen by the press. The super computer is described reaching a whopping 91.29 teraflops. IBM has plans on giving Academic researchers access to some computing time. Some more info can be found the IBM site. All this makes you wonder what other supercomputers are out there, not known to the press, and if it's time to increase the size of your private key and strengthen your encryption."

15 of 292 comments (clear)

  1. REVENGE! by flawedgeek · · Score: 5, Funny

    Apple, you might wanna rethink that switch to Intel.....

    --
    My other Sig is .40 caliber.
    1. Re:REVENGE! by ottothecow · · Score: 4, Funny
      And you know that that offer to academic institutions is just a lure...

      "You see, this is the finest private super computer on IBM processors. You may have heard about the school that has a apple super computer, well, that was made when they used IBM processors. If you happen to be in the market for a supercomputer be aware that you can no longer trust Apple to make them the say way and are safer going directly with a system from IBM. Please enjoy your computing time, we sincerely hope that you did not accidentally underestimate the power of our supercomputer and lease too much time."

      All inquiries can be addressed by the sales division in room 341b.

      --
      Bottles.
  2. A 'what' 91.29 teraflops? by metachor · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is 'whopping' really the only adjective adequate enough to describe supercomputer performance?

    Google search of 'supercomputer whopping'.

    1. Re:A 'what' 91.29 teraflops? by Andy_R · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well it does sound better than 'nearly as powerful as 41 playstation 3s'

      --
      A pizza of radius z and thickness a has a volume of pi z z a
  3. Pish posh... by AtariAmarok · · Score: 5, Funny

    Compared to the Milliard Gargantubrain in my garage, this thing is a mere abacus. Consider it not.

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  4. I have a supercomputer by Nicky+G · · Score: 5, Funny

    In my pants.

    1. Re:I have a supercomputer by psvm · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm afraid you seem to have confused supercomputer with a palm-pilot.

  5. So... by codexwriter · · Score: 4, Funny

    I need 400 PS3's to make one of these.
    Who wants to help me start a fundraiser?

  6. "Seen by the Press" by DyslexicLegume · · Score: 5, Funny

    Notice how the article says "seen by the press"...maybe there's an even more powerful one in the hands of some evil mastermind on an island in the Pacific who is plotting world domination by having it create a super weapon to destroy everything in its path...yet the computer always keeps giving the same answer:

    42

  7. Dearest Slashdot Readers, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    It is largely unnecessary to increase the size of your keys, it stopped slowing us down quite a while ago. Don't even get us started on the usefulness of tin foil hats.

    Love,

    The Government

    P.S: Don't you people starting clearing the porn off your hard drives, this job gets pretty boring sometimes.

  8. Origins of "whopping" term. by AtariAmarok · · Score: 5, Funny
    "Is 'whopping' really the only adjective adequate enough to describe supercomputer performance? "

    The use of this dates back to the "WOPR" strategic simulations supercomputer used by the Pentagon. Most know it from the documentary film "WarGames". It looked like a locomotive, but boy could it calculate. For several years, it was the standard by which supercomputers were measured. Eventually they came out with faster computers: once twice as fast as the WOPR ran at "two wops", one three times as fas "four wops". Eventually, an H got added in, and as computers left the old WOPR in the dust, the term "whopping" came to mean "Yeah, bud, it's really fast!"

    Want to play a game, Professor Falken?

    --
    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
  9. I don't like SPAM by ankhcraft · · Score: 5, Funny

    All this makes you wonder what other supercomputers are out there, not known to the press, and if it's time to increase the size of your private key and strengthen your encryption.

    Increase the size of my private ... and strengthen ... wait a sec! Ya' trying to sneak some SPAM past us?

    --
    ...
  10. As impressive as it is by hobotron · · Score: 4, Funny


    Im waiting for Sherlock Holmes Blue Gene system.

    --
    There is truth in humor.
  11. Yes, but can it... by MisterLawyer · · Score: 4, Funny
    Some more info can be found the IBM site.

    So, the big question is whether this supercomputer will have the whopping ability to check spelling and grammar.

  12. Re:sure. by St.+Arbirix · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sadly, the easiest way to hide porn collections from the girls in my life is to drop them in folders called "programming" or "linux" or something else that they're in the habit of ignoring.

    After a while it's like the words don't even exist to them.

    Send secretive emails with topics like "fR33 \/a1ium" and when someone looks in your inbox their eyes will just glide past the words.

    --
    Direct away from face when opening.