Chuck Kuhn's Asia in Photos: China's new super computer

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

China's new super computer - Telegraph

China has built the world's seventh-fastest super computer, in another sign of its ambition to be a leading force in high-technology.

IBM's Roadrunner is five times faster than the Chinese computer, but cost more than three times as much
The Dawning 5,000A, which will be installed in Shanghai, will be used for "genome mapping, earthquake appraisal, precise weather forecasts, and stock exchange data," said Hua Nie, the vice president of Dawning. It covers more than 750sq ft of floor space.
The Communist Party believes super computers are essential to China's efforts in science and advanced design.
The Dawning was finished too late to be included in the official rankings of the world's most powerful machines, which was released last week. However, the Dawning is thought to be only slightly slower than the sixth-ranked IBM Blue Gene/P computer at the Juelich Research Centre in Germany.
Five of the world's top ten fastest computers are built by IBM, and the world's number one, Roadrunner, sits in the Los Alamos Laboratory of the US Energy Department and is used for military applications.
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Roadrunner is five times faster than the Chinese computer, but cost more than three times the £15 million price tag of the Dawning.
Nevertheless the Dawning computer can do 160 trillion computations a second, otherwise known as flops. China is one of only a handful of countries, including Japan and Korea, which has been capable of building such a machine. The fastest super computer in the UK, Hector, is a 63 trillion flop machine.
China is also aiming to build three other super computers, which are 10 times as fast as the Dawning 5,000. Lenovo is building one at the Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing, while Shanghai and Shenzen will host the others.
Those computers are also likely to use Chinese-made microchips, rather than the Intel and AMD chips that are currently popular.
The state media said China had been forced to develop its own super computer technology because the US refused to allow advanced super computers to be sold to Communist state because of security worries.

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They say "

“I can’t say what made me fall in love with Vietnam - that a woman’s voice can drug you; that everything is so intense. The colors, the taste, even the rain. Nothing like the filthy rain in London. They say whatever you’re looking for, you will find here. They say you come to Vietnam and you understand a lot in a few minutes, but the rest has got to be lived. The smell: that’s the first thing that hits you, promising everything in exchange for your soul. And the heat. Your shirt is straightaway a rag. You can hardly remember your name, or what you came to escape from. But at night, there’s a breeze. The river is beautiful. You could be forgiven for thinking there was no war; that the gunshots were fireworks; that only pleasure matters. A pipe of opium, or the touch of a girl who might tell you she loves you. And then, something happens, as you knew it would. And nothing can ever be the same again.”
― Graham Greene, The Quiet American

Tips on Travel to Vietnam

It's always warm in Southeast Asia apart from high mountains, so leave the heavy clothing at home. Cotton and breathable fabrics are always better than synthetics -- although cotton does wrinkle a lot when traveling! December through April is roughly the dry season in that region, although it can still rain a little. December is a good time to go in terms of temperature -- cooler than in the humid summertime. Either way, wearing more clothing (shirt sleeves and long pants) is always more respectful towards the Asian culture, especially when visiting temples and rural areas.