IBM Tops Computer Power List

SAN JOSE, Calif. — An IBM-built computer that has topped the list of the world’s 500 most powerful supercomputers has widened its lead in the latest ranking released today.

The computer named Blue Gene/L, deployed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, has doubled its performance to 280.6 trillion calculations per second (teraflops), up from 136.8 teraflops from the list released in June. The system, which is used to study the U.S. nuclear stockpile and perform other research, was officially completed this summer after it was doubled in size. Researchers expect it will hold the top spot for the foreseeable future.

International Business Machines Corp. built the top three systems on the list released today by the Top 500 project, an independent group of university computer scientists who release supercomputer rankings every six months. The No. 2 machine is another Blue Gene system, with performance ranked at 91.2 teraflops. It’s installed at IBM’s Thomas Watson Research Center. The No. 3 system, also at LLNL, reached 63.4 teraflops in the test.

Big Blue built 43.8 percent of the systems on the list. Hewlett- Packard Co. is the No. 2 manufacturer, with 33.8 percent of the machines on the list. No other computer maker has more than 7 percent in any category.

Of the chip makers, Intel Corp. microprocessors were used in a total of 333 systems, with 81 using the company’s EM64T technology. IBM chips are in second place, with its Power microprocessors at the heart of 73 systems.

Of all the systems, the majority — 305 — are installed in the United States. Europe is represented by 100 systems on the list, while Asia has 66.