The Supercomputer

The supercomputeris a special type of computer that is commonly used to perform a single, very complex task that requires massive processing power. For example, a supercomputer may be given the task of analyzing how a chemical carcinogen attaches itself to a DNA molecule, a task that might take hours, days, or even weeks to compute. Supercomputers are the most powerful computers on earth. They are most often used in experimental government and scientific research facilities such as the Lawrence Livermore Labs in California and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. They are also used in military weapons research, atmospheric and earth science research, and natural resource exploration.

A supercomputer must have its own installation platform, plus thousands of dollars worth of air-conditioning plumbing. It must be tested for months before it can be used. Once ready, the entire setup is put in a semi trailer truck and moved to the site.

In 1957, William Norris and some other engineers formed a new company, Control Data Corporation in Minneapolis, to build supercomputers. In 1963, CDC introduced what was then the most powerful computer on earth, the CDC 6600. It was designed by a man named Seymour Cray.

Seymour Cray is probably the most brilliant supercomputer architect of our times. He left CDC in 1972 to start Cray Research, Inc., and built his own supercomputer, the Cray-1. Today, Cray Research, Inc., is the leading supercomputer maker and CDC is no longer in the supercomputer business. IBM has entered the market, and Japan's Fujitsu is a major competitor. Seymour Cray has gone on to form Cray Computer Corporation, where he and a team of engineers are building the next-generation supercomputer, the Cray-3. The market for supercomputers has grown beyond the research laboratory, as many businesses have found uses for supercomputers as well.

To get an idea how fast a supercomputer is, compare how long it took each of the following computers to perform a particular calculation:

■ IBM PC: 35 hours.

■ VAX mini: 7 seconds.

■ Cray supercomputer: less than 2 seconds.