World’s Fastest Computer Aptly Called Roadrunner

Scientists and engineers from the Los Alamos government weapons lab and IBM Corp. have built the world’s fastest computer. It is capable of sustaining 1,000 trillion calculations per second, twice faster than IBM’s super supercomputer, the IBM Blue Gene system.

The $100-million machine, which packs the power of 100,000 of the most modern and sophisticated hi-spec laptops, will be used to help maintain the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile. The speed demon, named Roadrunner after the New Mexico state bird, also will be used to help solve global energy problems and open new windows of knowledge in astronomy, genetics and climate change.

The New Mexico-based Los Alamos National Laboratory and IBM worked for six years on Roadrunner’s computer technology.