IBM to Speed U.S. Supercomputers

Computer giant IBM and the U.S. Energy Department plan to jointly advance U.S. supercomputing technology in a five-year program, the department announced yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 7).

Under the $58 million project, the department’s National Nuclear Security Administration will share with IBM the costs of improving the capability of U.S. computers that model nuclear weapons.

“Supercomputers are crucial to the continued success of the NNSA’s science-based efforts to keep the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile safe, secure and reliable without underground testing,” said NNSA chief Linton Brooks in a press statement.

The enhanced computing power could also be used for peaceful purposes, such as genome sequencing, climate change modeling and improving nuclear power technology, according to an IBM release.

“Computing at these scales will enable predictive simulations that allow researchers to understand how complex physical, chemical and biological systems behave over time,” Brooks said in the release.  “Previously, it was only possible to get brief snapshots on a smaller scale” (IBM release, Nov. 15).

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