The UK's Fastest Supercomputer

bmsleight writes "The Guardian has a story on the HECToR, The largest supercomputer in the UK — around five times more powerful than its predecessor, HPCx, which is also at the University of Edinburgh. It measures up well internationally, sitting at 17 in the top500.org list of the most powerful computers in the world."

UK commitment to science

[BWJones]

I have really been impressed with the level of commitment to science, research and education outside of the US right now and efforts like HECToR only consolidate that impression. While we here in the US have essentially dropped the ball on education and science funding for the past oh, six or seven years, the rest of the world is really stepping up. Of course I have mixed feelings about this as I am a US citizen who works in science and education, but it is also good to see other countries stepping up. For instance, a few months ago, I visited the University of Leicester [utah.edu] and was truly impressed with the focus and quality of the research going on in the UK. Their commitment to bioscience funding is something that the US government should be very careful about as we stand to lose some valuable talent overseas if we are not careful...

Re:17th isn't good enough

[AvitarX]

Wouldn't it make sense to compare total computing power to GDP, or at the least total scientific computing power?

I would doubt for example you would have the same complaint if the UK had the 17-100 spots on the list.

It could very well be that the UK is spending a lot more on research, but does not like to spend it on large super computersm or even spends it partnering with facilities in other countries.

Top500

[prakslash]

Doesn't this Top500 contest boil down to a matter of who has more money than the other?

I mean, at this stage, there isn't any real innovation in interconnect or processor or memory technology. It is mostly a matter of who has the money to buy thousands of these chips, cobble them together and supply enough money to keep the whole thing running.

If University of Edinburgh had thrice the money, they could cobble three Hectors together and then they would have had a system at least twice as powerful or may be only 50% more powerful (Whatvever the power gain is). Then they would end up higher on the list.

May be there should be some kind of constraints built in within the Top500 to encourage actual innovation as opposed to measuring the financial resources of an institution or a country.

Re:UK commitment to science

[everphilski]

Yeah, I mean, the US only has 10 of the top 16 supercomputers ahead of the UK.

And you may say "we here in the US have essentially dropped the ball on education and science funding for the past oh, six or seven years", but as a college graduate in engineering from (early in) that time frame, with younger siblings (my youngest is 11 years my junior) interested in education/scientific fields: one brother a pilot with a BS, one becoming a teacher, my sister studying to be a medical doctor and my youngest brother still in high school, but very into science - I'd have to disagree. I could go on and on ...