How high-performance computing is transforming our world
Supercomputers are nothing new; the world’s first supercomputer - the CDC 6600 - was in use in 1964, and they’ve been discussed since the 1920s. Over the decades, companies have used such high-performance computers to enhance lives, evolve our standard of living, and drive business forward, resulting in the fast-paced, efficiency-focused modern era we find ourselves in today.
Supercomputers are still changing things today; here are just a few ways they’re making waves in our world.
Supercomputers are still changing things today; here are just a few ways they’re making waves in our world.
Solving The World’s Most Complex Issues
The raw performance of supercomputing is typically directed towards our most complex problems; DNA sequencing, complex mathematical tasks, and so on. Through the power of high-performance computing, we’re learning how to improve healthcare and treat difficult diseases like cancer. Nvidia launched the Cambridge-1 earlier this year, the UK’s most powerful supercomputer, estimated at a value of $100 million. Making it available to the UK’s healthcare industry researchers, Nvidia intends to use the system to enhance research into the areas of digital biology, genomics, and quantum computing. Cambridge-1 has already been used in partnership with AstraZeneca to aid in discovering new drugs more swiftly, and King’s College London and several London hospitals are using the supercomputer to understand dementia better, helping to diagnose the diseases earlier and start treatment. Healthcare is a large area where supercomputing is paving the way for a better standard of living, but it’s not the only one.Saving Our World
Learning how to live and exist sustainability in our world is a hot topic today. In fact, seven in ten people in the UK think it’s “a very, or extremely serious, problem”, according to a survey carried out by the University of Oxford’s Reuters Insititute. It’s why various initiatives to use supercomputing performance to solve energy problems, and develop new ways of generating energy are so vital. Here are a few highlights that have and continue to take place:- Princeton University’s scientists are using the Summit supercomputer to simulator plasma behaviour, in the hopes that they can perfect the generation of fusion energy in fusion reactors like the ITER facility in France. (Source)
- Titan, the supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been used to help scientists understand how the combustion energy better, with the intention of learning how they might use alternative energy sources like biofuel instead. (Source)
- Dr. Lawrence Cheung and a team from GE Global Research are using supercomputing to run predictive simulations on wind farms, measuring the wind activities in the farm, and using the data to build even more efficient wind turbines. (Source)
Making Life Positively Predictable
High-performance computing isn’t just helping us develop new methods of energy generation and keeping us healthy; it’s also making our world more predictable and safe. Supercomputers are commonly used to predict weather patterns, the likelihood of earthquakes and other natural disasters, and their likely consequences. As a result, we’re able to plan and build for such scenarios, making buildings more resistant to earthquakes and avoiding the worst-case scenarios in the event of tsunamis. Fujitsu is using the Fugaku supercomputer to deliver real-time tsunami predictions in partnership with RIKEN and The International Research Institute of Disaster Science at Tohoku University. Through the power of AI and powerful high-performance computing, we’re improving our world in a variety of ways. Want to know how to implement the power of AI and powerful computing in your own business? Speak to ASUS today.
