Today we have a number of supercomputers which can do quadrillion calculations within a second. But this was not the case some years back and IBM’s Roadrunner was the world’s fastest super computer back then.
But all good things come to an end and this powerhouse is going to be decommissioned this Sunday. The supercomputer costs around $121 million and was kept at a premier Nuclear Research Laboratory in New Mexico. IBM Roadrunner was one of its kind super computers and paved the way for a whole new system of processors for newer supercomputers. It was the first supercomputer back in 2008 to calculate quadrillion mathematical calculations in a second, a feat that the recent supercomputers can easily boast of.
But why exactly was it decommissioned if it is still powerful?
Well, the answer is simple, progress. Smaller, better, faster, cheaper supercomputers have evolved over the course of time and now, the Roadrunner is no longer the fastest or the cheapest supercomputer out there in the world. Supercomputers have evolved to become more powerful and cheaper recently and it was only a matter of time that the roadrunner became obsolete. However, it still can boast of being one of the 25 fastest supercomputers in the world today.
Roadrunner still can be considered as a pioneer device which inspired the growth of new age supercomputers which were much better than the previous ones.
“Roadrunner got everyone thinking in new ways about how to build and use a supercomputer,” said Gary Grider, a part of lab’s high performance computing workforce. “Specialized processors are being included in new ways on new systems and being used in novel ways. Our demonstration with Roadrunner caused everyone to pay attention.”
According to nbcnews, Roadrunner won’t be dismantled until scientist work with its operating system and experiment with it for about a month. Only after that period, the supercomputer would be finally shut down and then dismantled.