Press Release: IBM Posts Top Growth on Supercomputer List; Leads
Major Vendors with 83 Percent Growth Among Top 100 Sites
November 12, 1998
Announcement Summary: IBM announced today that it has increased its
share of systems on the TOP500 list of the largest supercomputers by
more than 40 percent in just the past six months. IBM systems now
account for 105 of the world's fastest computers, an increase of
30 installations since May.
What is IBM's primary customer benefit or unique advantage: The
release demonstrates IBM's commitment to and growth in the important
scientific and technical computing market.
SC98, ORLANDO, Fla.--- November 10, 1998--IBM announced today that it has
increased its share of systems on the TOP500 list of the largest
supercomputers by more than 40 percent in just the past six months. IBM
systems now account for 105 of the world's fastest computers, an increase
of 30 installations since May.
IBM's dramatic growth ranks first among major vendors on the November 1998
list of the 500 most powerful supercomputer sites. The company's increases
were even more substantial at the highest end of computing, with 22
RS/6000 SP systems now among the world's 100 most powerful systems, an
83 percent increase.
"Customers are turning to IBM's RS/6000 SP to meet their most demanding
computing needs and to tackle increasingly complex problems that only the
world's most advanced computers can solve," said Nicholas Donofrio, IBM
senior vice president for Technology and Manufacturing. "IBM's leadership
in deep computing -- helping companies and organizations extract valuable
information and relationships from unprecedented volumes of data -- is
fueling demand for these high-performance systems."
Donofrio said that IBM is developing an aggressive road map to extend the
capabilities of the world's most advanced computers.
"We are already building a 10 teraflops system for delivery to the
Department of Energy in 2000 and, even more remarkable, we're on track to
demonstrate a 1000 teraflop system before the end of the next decade."
The TOP500 Supercomputer list (http://www.top500.org/), published Nov. 5,
has been issued every six months since 1993 by Hans Meuer and Erich
Strohmaier of the University of Mannheim, Germany and Jack Dongarra of
the University of Tennessee.
IBM Moves to Extend Supercomputer Leadership
IBM today also announced several steps designed to further extend
its leadership in scientific, technical and engineering computing.
First, the company is opening an Advanced Computer Technology
Center that provides customers with solutions for porting and
optimizing applications to IBM's RS/6000 SP. To facilitate this, the
center will help independent software vendors develop programming
tools and will coordinate the development of optimized software
libraries.
Second, industry-specific Competency Centers are being established
that will provide expertise and resources to a range of customers in
manufacturing, research, and petroleum.
"As we approach the fifth anniversary of the RS/6000 SP, we have
installed 5,000 systems around the world," said Mike Henesey, IBM
program director of Scientific and Technical Computing. "The SP has
proven itself for the most demanding scientific and technical
computing tasks. Our customers are asking for help in creating new SP
applications, optimizing those they are using now, and porting
applications from other providers' hardware."
Henesey added, "The combined resources of these new centers will
be unmatched in the industry in terms of providing a full range of
high-performance solutions for our customers." Customers can receive
more information on both centers by writing to ACTC@us.ibm.com.
In recent weeks IBM has announced a series of prestigious
supercomputing wins including the most powerful supercomputer in the
world at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory announced by Vice
President Al Gore on Oct. 28, a contract to build the world's largest
academic supercomputer at San Diego Supercomputer Center, and the
installation of a large RS/6000 SP system for the National Weather
Service.
AIX and RS/6000 are registered trademarks or trademarks of the IBM
Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. Other
company, product and service names, which may be denoted by a double
asterisk (**) may be trademarks or service marks of others.
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