President Obama wants to build world's fastest supercomputer
President Obama issued an executive order聽Wednesday for the United States to聽build the world鈥檚 fastest computer聽over the next decade.
Mr. Obama has created the National Strategic Computing Initiative to help the country lead in the development of High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems.
Competitiveness in this field remains 鈥渆ssential to economic competitiveness, scientific discovery and national security,鈥� the 奥别诲苍别蝉诲补测.听
The initiative includes two key goals.
First: to increase the speed of calculations to one exaflop聽(1018 聽arithmetic operations per second). This is about聽聽than today鈥檚 fastest machines, according to Wired.
Second: to 鈥渆fficiently manipulate vast and rapidly increasing quantities of both numerical and non-numerical data.鈥�
鈥淏y strategically investing now, we can prepare for increasing computing demands and emerging technological challenges, building the foundation for sustained US leadership for decades to come, while also expanding the role of high-performance computing to address the pressing challenges faced across many sectors.鈥�
To date, the use of HPC has focused on simulating complex natural and technological systems, such as 鈥済alaxies, weather and climate, molecular interactions, and electric power grids,鈥� according to the White House press release.
The computer could also aid the聽, tailored to specific individuals,聽Richard Kenway, a mathematical physicist at the University of Edinburgh in Britain told the BBC.
鈥淭oday, drugs are designed for the average human and they work OK for some people but not others,鈥� Professor Kenway said.
According to Wired, 鈥渢he specifics [of the program] are thin on the ground at the moment鈥� but government agencies are on course to collaborate.
Wired reports this initiative will 鈥渂ring together scientists and government agencies such as the Department of Energy, Department of Defense and the National Science Foundation to create a common agenda for pushing the field forward.鈥�
