Essential Characteristics
Immense Computation Power
Supercomputers are capable of trillions of floating point operations per second. This provides them the capability to solve problems or tasks that would be infeasible or impossible in other computer systems.
Enhanced Networking
Making use of advanced network communications technologies such as Infiniband, supercomputers are capable both of very high bandwidth and low latency.
Scalable Performance
Composed of hundreds or even thousands of processors working in close proximity, resulting in a centralized massively parallel system, supercomputers can scale both horizontally and vertically.
Industries
Academia, Education and Research
Supercomputing enables researchers to perform far more complex calculations and to obtain results far more quickly. With supercomputers, brand new studies can be performed that were simply not possible before. This means disruptive innovation for science and industry.
Manufacturing and Engineering
Supercomputers offers engineers the computing resources needed to study, analyse and simulate technical problems, to carry out project management and quality control more easily and quickly. They enable vital decisions, helping promote product innovations, speed up development, and reduce time to market.
Energy
Beyond the capabilities of supercomputing for data acquisition, analysis and storage for energy companies, there are other extended benefits. To meet the global energy demand, supercomputing provides advanced seismic imaging for oil and gas exploration, accelerating ROI and minimizing risk while supporting ingenious development of new energy sources.
Supercomputer Usage by Market Segment
Number of supercomputers across market segments as percentages of the Top 500 Supercomputers.
[Top 500 List Statistics, segments]
Industry
Research
Academic
State
Vendor
Other
Contrary to what some might believe, most supercomputers nowadays are used in Industry rather than the Public Sector. This demonstrates an evolving need of private businesses for the capabilities that supercomputing offers.
Industry
Research
Academic
State
Vendor
Other
Contrary to what some might believe, most supercomputers nowadays are used in Industry rather than the Public Sector. This demonstrates an evolving need of private businesses for the capabilities that supercomputing offers.
Benefits
Discovery and Breaktrough
Thanks to their unparalleled computing ability, supercomputers can be used to solve new, complex engineering and scientific problems that could never be solved with conventional tools.
Cost Reduction
Trial-and-error testing, prototyping and other costly processes, previously necessary during product development, can be replaced by simulation and other computerized processes, leading to substancial cost reductions.
Time-to-Market
Due to improved improved research and development capabilities, supercomputing reduces the time and labour needed to bring products to market.
50
Breakthrough increase
40
Cost Reduction
45
Decrease in time-to-market