IBM creates supercomputer with Cell chip

[Nerdkiller likes BD]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7443557.stm

BBC:
A supercomputer built with components designed for the Sony PlayStation 3 has set a new computing milestone.

The IBM machine, codenamed Roadrunner, has been shown to run at "petaflop speeds", the equivalent of one thousand trillion calculations per second.

The benchmark means the computer is twice as nimble as the current worlds fastest machine, also built by IBM.

It will be installed at a US government laboratory later this year where it will monitor the US nuclear stockpile.

It will also be used for research into astronomy, genomics and climate change.

"We are getting close to simulating the real world," Bijan Davari, vice president of next generation computing systems at IBM told BBC News.

It would be of particular use for calulating risk in financial markets, he said.

"The latency of the calculations is so small that for all practical purposes it is real time."