IBM will build a supercomputer that can perform 1.6 trillion calculations per second

The new machine will be built entirely from hardware components available off the shelf, on a commercial basis, and will operate in a Linux environment. IBM will implement in this system its x 3755 servers based on Opteron processors, together with BladeCenter H blade server systems based on Cell BE technology

IBM will build for the US Atomic Energy Agency's Los Alamos Laboratory, the world's first supercomputer based on Cell processors and their Cell Broadband EngineTM, which will reach an unprecedented calculation speed of 1.6 thousand trillion calculation operations per second. The new computer system was nicknamed Roadrunner - that blue bird character well known to fans of cartoons, while it manages to escape time and again from the fox chasing it, thanks to its impossible speed. The new system will be based on IBM's Cell processors that were originally developed for the game console industry and these will work in conjunction with AMD's x86 processors.

The new IBM supercomputer was designed to perform a wide range of scientific and commercial applications, and will integrate sophisticated software that manages and schedules the work of over 16,000 AMD Opteron processor cores, along with over 16,000 IBM Cell BE processors.

The new machine will be built entirely from hardware components available off the shelf, on a commercial basis, and will operate in a Linux environment. IBM will implement in this system its x 3755 servers based on Opteron processors, together with BladeCenter H blade server systems based on Cell BE technology
The planners also focus on solving space and current consumption problems: the system will incorporate advanced technologies for cooling and managing current consumption, and will occupy an area similar to that of a basketball court. The system will be able to break down complex mathematical problems into separate components, and route each part of the problem to that part of the system that is able to deal with it most efficiently. Simple computing processes such as input and output of files and communication activity will be handled by AMD processors, while more complex problems and calculations that repeat themselves a large number of times will be directed to over 16,000 Cell processors. These processors, manufactured by IBM and originally designed for the game console industry, offer advanced capabilities in the field of real-time calculations and graphics processing. Thanks to these capabilities, the new supercomputer will be able to handle particularly complex mathematical problems - at unprecedented processing rates.

The Cell BE processor was developed based on IBM's Power architecture and in collaboration with Sony and Toshiba.