Chinese Supercomputer, Tianhe-2, Keeps Its #1 Spot On Top500 List – Again!
The Top500 has been operating since 1993 and every six months they present a list of the world’s 500 most powerful computer systems. This information is utilized by computer manufacturers, users, and funding authorities. To date, there have been 43 editions of the Top500 List with 58 countries making the list. Among the lucky 58 are the United States (who currently rank 2nd with their Titan supercomputer), France, and Germany.
In 2013, China stole the No. 1 spot from the USA; and it doesn’t appear that they want to give it back! This month, the Top500 released its 43rd edition list naming China number one – for the third consecutive time.
Why Is The Tianhe-2 Such A Big Deal Anyway?
You are probably thinking, “Oh great, here comes the boring part of this blog! NEXT!” But wait! We promise not to bore you with a laundry list of specs. After all, we realize that not everyone is well versed in “tech jargon”. We will try our best to make this a simple explanation for all! Now let’s get to it!
The Tianhe-1A supercomputer (which also held the No. 1 place in 2010) is the predecessor to the Tianhe-2. The major difference between the two – speed! You may be wondering at this point, “Who are the geniuses behind this supercomputer?” The answer is…drumroll please…the National University of Defense Technology, China! According to the Top500, the Tianhe-2 is scheduled to “be deployed at the National Supercomputer Center in Guangzho – two years ahead [of time]”.
Now that you know “the basics” – lets get into the reasons why this supercomputer is such a big deal! The Tianhe-2 was built with 16,000 nodes and Intel processors. Each node contains two Xeon IvyBridge processors and three Xeon Phi processors, which totals to an impressive 3, 120, 000 total processor cores. This “bad boy” is almost twice as fast as the Titan (created by Cray, USA) and tops it at 33.8 petaflop/s (versus the Titan’s 17.9 petaflop/s). What the heck is a petaflop? According to Techopedia.com, it is “one thousand trillion, or one quadrillion, operations per second, and represents an extremely fast computing speed for a single machine.” In short, this supercomputer is REALLY fast! The Tianhe-2 is winning, in petaflop/s, compared to the first model; the Tianhe-1A performs at a measly 2.56 petaflop/s.
China Isn’t The Only Winner In The Computer World – At least Not OVERALL!
While China is No. 1 in the supercomputer realm, IBM is still No. 1 in the computer manufacturing department. Cray and Fujitsu also fall closely behind IBM. We applaud China for its ever improving IT advancements! However, they shouldn’t get too comfortable in their winning spot on the Top500 list. The US also once sat in the very same seat – China, The US wants their seat back!
The Tianhe-2 Supercomputer.
Information & Photo Credit: Top500