Roadrunner supercomputer reaches full speed

By
Follow google news

Less than a week after the Los Alamos National Laboratory's Roadrunner supercomputer began operating at record-breaking speeds, researchers are using the device to analyse "extremely complex" neurological processes..


The petaflop-scale supercomputer, which is based on the Cell chips used in PlayStation consoles and runs on Linux, can perform a mind-boggling million billion calculations s second.

Los Alamos and IBM researchers have used three different computational codes to test the machine, including one dubbed 'PetaVision'.

PetaVision models the human visual system, mimicking the billion-plus visual neurons and trillions of synapses in the human brain.

The scientists explained that, because there are about a quadrillion synapses in the human brain, human cognition is a petaflop per second computational problem.

Los Alamos researchers used PetaVision to model more than a billion visual neurons surpassing the scale of one quadrillion computations a second.

The scientists also used PetaVision to reach a new computing performance record of 1.144 petaflop/s.

The achievement throws open the door to achieving "human-like cognitive performance" in electronic computers, according to the researchers.

"Roadrunner ushers in a new era for science at Los Alamos National Laboratory," said Terry Wallace, associate director for science, technology and engineering at Los Alamos.

"Just a week after formal introduction of the machine to the world, we are already doing computational tasks that existed only in the realm of imagination a year ago."
Got a news tip for our journalists? Share it with us anonymously here.
Copyright ©v3.co.uk
Tags:

Most Read Articles

Ex-Indonesian minister faces graft charges over Chromebook procurement

Ex-Indonesian minister faces graft charges over Chromebook procurement

China asks tech firms to halt orders for Nvidia's H200 chips

China asks tech firms to halt orders for Nvidia's H200 chips

US bars approvals of new models of DJI, all other foreign drones

US bars approvals of new models of DJI, all other foreign drones

ATO, AFP, AER and Veterans' Affairs get IT modernisation funds

ATO, AFP, AER and Veterans' Affairs get IT modernisation funds

Log In

  |  Forgot your password?