As most of u guys might have heard, IBM made the world's fastest Supercomputer. You can google it or see it here. I was impressed by the specs of this monster. They are so extravagant to say the least. QUOTE Roadrunner resides at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory where its primary task will be to ensure the safety and reliability of the U.S's nuclear weapons stockpile. My question is: Couldn't the US government find better use for this thing? I'm sure there are many more important places where great computing power is needed. I'm not saying they don't need a powerful Supercomputer at the Los Alamos National Laboratory but having the world's best sitting there is something that i find very difficult to understand

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I think they have a reason to have the most powerful rig there considering that there are more than one supercomputers in the DOE. What I found funny was that neither IBM nor Cray Inc owns anything close the systems they build for others. Is it because they can't afford them or they don't need that much power at their centres?
The companies' own supercomputers occupy #84 and #87 on the Top 500, IBM owning the more powerful one. Intel is at #74. I wonder what they use at research centres for companies like Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, AMD(this one should lead by example).

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Bluechip I think you are wrong. IBM also owns a powerful machine ranked number 14. I really don't think it matters if they have the best or some insignificant computer. It's all about needs. I for example install accounting packages for medium size enterprises. I tell them to get the best yet I'm still using MS Excel and I'm content with it. So if the ones that they have can do what they NEED done then there is no need to install Roadrunner's twin sister at one of their facililties

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