The Supercomputer

Now, science is continuing progressing. And the supercomputer contributes to progress of science greatly.

A supercomputer is a large-scale computer which is used scientific and engineering calculations as a primary aim. The purpose of supercomputer is huge calculation processing and a supercomputer is equipped with the large-scale hardware and software for realizing it. A supercomputer is used for weather prediction, molecular dynamics, simulation astronomy, an optimization problem, and the simulation based on large-scale numerical analysis like financial engineering. Although the definition of a supercomputer changes a lot with a time, generally speaking, it is the computer of the maximum high performance which is the latest technology of the time.

Introduction of the supercomputer is progressing all over the world. And the concentration situation of the number of introduction which made two poles Japan and the United States. like the beginning of the 1990s is dissolved. The United States and Japan are noticing the simulation capability of a supercomputer being the source of global competitiveness and are planning the next-generation supercomputer concept one after another.

In Japan, there are two kinds of supercomputer. It is NLS and NIS. NLS (National Leadership Supercomputer) is a supercomputer which takes the leadership of the supercomputer literacy in Japan and is prepared as a development project. NIS (National Infrastructure Supercomputer) is a supercomputer which supports supercomputer literacy bearing in mind general research and use in industry. For example, CP-PACS of University of Tsukuba which was started to use as NLS was used as NIS after about two years.

K computer is a name of the supercomputer installed in the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research of Japan. It was completed in July, 2012 and the common start of it was carried out in September of the same year. And, in TOP500 ranking, it ranked the 1^st in June and November, 2011, it ranked 2^nd in June, 2012, and it ranked 3^rd in November, 2012. Moreover, K computer won the HPC challenge prize and the Gordon bell prize in 2011 and 2012.