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Petaflops? DARPA Seeks Quintillion-Flop Computers

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the that's-a-lotta-flops dept.

coondoggie writes "Not known for taking the demure route, researchers at DARPA this week announced a program aimed at building computers that exceed current peta-scale computers to achieve the mind-altering speed of one quintillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000) calculations per second. Dubbed extreme scale computing, such machines are needed, DARPA says, to 'meet the relentlessly increasing demands for greater performance, higher energy efficiency, ease of programmability, system dependability, and security.'"

3 of 185 comments (clear)

  1. how sweet and innocent of them! by zero.kalvin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Call me tinfoil hat wearer, but me thinks they want a faster way of cracking encryption...

    1. Re:how sweet and innocent of them! by SirGarlon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Since when the espionage is a GOOD thing!!!!!

      Since September 11, 2001.

      Or you could go back further, to July 26, 1939. But the real answer is, espionage has been a good thing ever since there have been enemies.

      I for one am all in favor of having fewer enemies. But for the ones that can't be ignored or reconciled, espionage is a Good Thing.

      --
      [Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
  2. I Love DARPA by sonicmerlin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They come up with ideas that only ultra-geeks and science fiction nerds could come up with, and then they get billions in funding for it! It's like paradise. The fact that they're actually successful at advancing human technology is just icing on the cake.