Education & Research | 15 Dec 2008 :
The Centre for Telecommunications Value-chain Research (CTVR) has announced that a team of its researchers has begun working with technology giant IBM on a project that could ultimately lead to the creation of the world's fastest and most powerful computer.
The team is collaborating with IBM on the development of a new optical network that may form a crucial part of the next generation of ‘supercomputers' to be designed by the multinational. Optical networks are used to spread computing workloads over thousands of individual systems, allowing for the processing of vast quantities of data at phenomenal speed.
At present, the fastest computer in the world is the IBM Roadrunner, based in the Los Alamos National Laboratory, in the United States. IBM, supported by the CTVR team and other teams of Irish researchers, has just launched its Exascale initiative, geared towards producing systems that can operate 1,000 times faster than the most powerful computers in operation today.
Professor Donal O'Mahony, Director, CTVR, said: "Right now, the world's fastest computing system can carry out around one thousand trillion arithmetic operations per second. We are looking to help create a new system that will run at speeds up to a thousand times faster, allowing for newer, more challenging problems to be handled.
"This will hopefully lead to the creation of high value jobs, as the research moves towards the product development phase. On a wider level, projects like this can play a major role in reinvigorating the Irish ‘knowledge economy' by adding to Ireland's reputation as a centre for world-class research in high-tech disciplines."