Japan eyes advanced supercomputer as early as 2010

[Guest guest]

Hello all:

Yes this is a computer article, however these massive machines

increase medical knowledge tremendously. I also read another article

on this planned computer that stated the computer would perform 3

quadrillion calcs/sec, not 1 quardrillion. Either speed is faster

than my brain!!

Enjoy, take care.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is aiming to develop a supercomputer it hopes

will be fast enough to help it regain the top spot it lost to U.S.

makers last year in an industry that is often seen as a proxy fight

for technological supremacy.

The government wants to develop a supercomputer that can handle over a

quadrillion calculations per second as early as the fiscal year ending

in March 2011, an official at the Ministry of Education, Culture,

Sports, Science and Technology said on Monday.

That would compare with the 70.72 trillion calculations per second in

independent tests last year for International Business Machines

Corp.'s (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Blue Gene/L, currently the

world's fastest computer built for the U.S. Department of Energy's

National Nuclear Security Agency.

Japan's fastest machine currently is NEC Corp.'s (6701.T: Quote,

Profile, Research) Earth Simulator, which boasts nearly 36 trillion

calculations per second.

It had been the world's fastest supercomputer until last year, when it

was overtaken by a machine made by Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI.N:

Quote, Profile, Research) machine and by Blue Gene/L.

The U.S. and Japan have battled for a number of years over supremacy

in supercomputers, machines that have massive processing power and

which are used in advanced climate forecasting, medical research and

other areas.

Japan's new supercomputer would enable medical researchers to conduct

comprehensive simulations on how a medicine is dissolved and carried

through a human body and how it affects a specific organ, for example,

the ministry official said.

It would also help provide weather forecasts with improved accuracy,

the official said.

NEC, Hitachi Ltd. (6501.T: Quote, Profile, Research) , the University

of Tokyo and Kyushu University were chosen by the ministry earlier

this month to develop critical technologies to make the ultra-fast

computer possible.

Details such as how much total investment will be needed for the

project and which organizations will be involved in the actual

development has yet to be decided.

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