Linux Supercomputer Roadrunner Takes Petaflops Hurdle
The Roadrunner supercomputer developed by IBM for the Department of Energy at the Los Alamos National Laboratory is the first to take the Petaflops hurdle of 1.026 billion operations per second.
The hybrid machine running on a Red Hat Linux-based operating system easily outpaces the previous leader in the Top500 list of the world’s fastest supercomputers, BlueGene/L (478 Teraflops) again by IBM, which achieves just half of Roadrunner’s performance Roadrunner will mainly be used for military research into nuclear weapons, with some capacity also being dedicated to researching the human genome and to weather simulations. The hybrid machine combines the Cell processor designed for the PlayStation with AMD x86 processors, with no less than 6948 dual-core Opteron chips installed. 12,960 Cell processors form part two of the machine, which has no less than 80 terabytes of memory, residing in 288 BladeCenter racks and occupying a floor space of 6000 square meters. The supercomputer is comparatively frugal with respect to power requirements, clocking up 376 million operations per watt. IBM expects Roadrunner to take one of the top notches in the list of green supercomputers. The investment in the project was around US$ 100 m says IBM.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 Available for Installation
The latest release of OpenMandriva has arrived with a new kernel, an updated Plasma desktop, and a server edition.
-
TrueNAS 25.04 Arrives with Thousands of Changes
One of the most popular Linux-based NAS solutions has rolled out the latest edition, based on Ubuntu 25.04.
-
Fedora 42 Available with Two New Spins
The latest release from the Fedora Project includes the usual updates, a new kernel, an official KDE Plasma spin, and a new System76 spin.
-
So Long, ArcoLinux
The ArcoLinux distribution is the latest Linux distribution to shut down.
-
What Open Source Pros Look for in a Job Role
Learn what professionals in technical and non-technical roles say is most important when seeking a new position.
-
Asahi Linux Runs into Issues with M4 Support
Due to Apple Silicon changes, the Asahi Linux project is at odds with adding support for the M4 chips.
-
Plasma 6.3.4 Now Available
Although not a major release, Plasma 6.3.4 does fix some bugs and offer a subtle change for the Plasma sidebar.
-
Linux Kernel 6.15 First Release Candidate Now Available
Linux Torvalds has announced that the release candidate for the final release of the Linux 6.15 series is now available.
-
Akamai Will Host kernel.org
The organization dedicated to cloud-based solutions has agreed to host kernel.org to deliver long-term stability for the development team.
-
Linux Kernel 6.14 Released
The latest Linux kernel has arrived with extra Rust support and more.