The latest Top500 supercomputer rankings are out. Developed by a German team from the University of Mannheim, this ranking list updates twice every year to assign slots to global supercomputer systems. The parameter for determining the position involves the comparative estimate of the relative speed of the supercomputers in solving a specific linear equation. The Linpack Benchmark system does not take the perspective of data transfer speed that significantly aligns with real world digital fluctuations.
Developers in artificial intelligence are well aware of the fact that by its very programming, computing systems have the power to take intelligent decisions. In other words, the presence of an unpredictable digital consciousness always comes into account into determining real world situations. Even supercomputers are vulnerable to these unpredictable fluctuations, and it significantly affects the real world performance.
The new number 1 in the list is Chinese supercomputer Tianhe-2, operating at 33.86 petaflop/s. This implies that the computer is capable of executing 33,863 trillion elaborate calculations every second. In another major change in the top 10 list of supercomputers, the Pitz Daint, developed in Switzerland, got the 6th place with its operating speed of 6.27 petaflop/s. The complete list of top 10 supercomputers reveal 5 of them are in the US, one each in China, Japan, and Switzerland, and 2 computers in Germany.
Tianhe is the Chinese word for Milky Way, symbolizing the universe of binary data apparatus in the supercomputing system. The National University of Defence Technology developed this highest artificial intelligence system in the world. Some of the processors were from Intel, while a majority of them came into development within the university labs.
- Tianhe-2 (Chinese)-33.86 petaflop/s
- Titan (American)-17.59 petaflop/s
- Sequoia (American)-17.17 petaflop/s
- K computer (Japanese)-10.51 petaflop/s
- Mira (American)-8.59 petaflop/s
- Piz Daint (Swiss)-6.27 petaflop/s
- Stampede (American)-5.17 petaflop/s
- Juqueen (German)-5.09 petaflop/s
- Vulcan (American)-4.29 petaflop/s
- SuperMuc (German)-2.9 petaflop/s
IBM, the developer of 5 computers in this top 10 list, expressed strong reservations on the methodology of the ranking system. From a conference in Denver, Colorado, the company argued that there is an urgent need for an update in the ranking system. However, IBM also praised the list as a very useful tool in comparative evaluation of super performance computing. Dr Alessandro Curioni, the computational science head at the Zurich research lab of the organization elaborated that there is an urgent need to implement a ranking system considering practical parameters.
Dr Curioni insisted that the supercomputer rankings must depend on its real life applications with a focus on the progressive use of the computer. According to the veteran expert, supercomputers must receive their ranks based on their real world performance to improve the lives of millions of people. He also stated that soon an IBM team, led by him would discuss the practical aspects with the organizers of the current ranking system. In the turn of events, one of the creators of the Linpack Ranking, Erich Strohmaier indicated that finding a suitable uniform ranking algorithm is very complex. He stressed on the need of developing improved representative benchmarks to evaluate supercomputing performance.