| Operators | Argonne National Laboratory |
|---|---|
| Power | 3.9 MW |
| Speed | 8.16 PFLOPS |
| Purpose | Material science, Climatology, Seismology, Computational chemistry |
Mira is a petascale Blue Gene/Q supercomputer. As of June 2012, it is listed on TOP500 as the third-fastest supercomputer in the world.[1] It has a performance of 8.16 petaflops and consumes 3.9 MW in power.[2] The supercomputer was constructed by IBM for Argonne National Laboratory's Argonne Leadership Computing Facility with the support of the United States Department of Energy, and partially funded by the National Science Foundation.[3] Mira will be used for scientific research, including studies in the fields of material science, climatology, seismology, and computational chemistry.[4] The supercomputer is being utilized initially for sixteen projects, selected by the Department of Energy.[5]
The Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, which commissioned the supercomputer, was established by the America COMPETES Act, signed by President Bush in 2007, and President Obama in 2011.[4] The United States' emphasis on supercomputing has been seen as a response to China's progress in the field. China's Tianhe-1A, located at the Tianjin National Supercomputer Center, was ranked the most powerful supercomputer in the world between October 2010 to June 2011.[3] In 2011, Obama addressed the need to invest in supercomputing in a State of the Union address. Mira is, along with IBM Sequoia and the upcoming Blue Waters, one of three American petascale supercomputers deployed in 2012.[3]
The cost for building Mira has not been released by IBM. Early reports estimated that construction would cost $50 million USD,[6] and Argonne National Laboratory announced that Mira was bought using money from a grant of $180 million USD.[3] In a press release, IBM marketed the supercomputer's speed, claiming that "if every man, woman and child in the United States performed one calculation each second, it would take them almost a year to do as many calculations as Mira will do in one second."[7]
References [link]
- ↑ "June 2012". TOP500 Project. https://www.top500.org/list/2012/06/100. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
- ↑ "Mira - BlueGene/Q, Power BQC 16C 1.60GHz, Custom". TOP500. https://i.top500.org/system/177718. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Jackson, Joab (8 February 2012). "United States Commissions Beefy IBM Supercomputer". PC World. https://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/218951/united_states_commissions_beefy_ibm_supercomputer.html. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Wait, Patience (31 July 2012). "National Lab Replaces Supercomputer With Newer, Faster Model". InformationWeek. https://www.informationweek.com/government/enterprise-applications/national-lab-replaces-supercomputer-with/240004607. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
- ↑ NP, Ullekh (1 May 2011). "MIRA: World's fastest supercomputer". Economic Times. https://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-05-01/news/29493319_1_fastest-supercomputer-mira-calculations. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
- ↑ Alexander, Steve (14 February 2011). "IBM’s Mira will have super speed". The Journal Gazette. https://www.journalgazette.net/article/20110214/BIZ07/302149956/1031/BIZ. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
- ↑ Murph, Darren (9 February 2012). "IBM's Mira supercomputer does ten petaflops with ease, inches us closer to exascale-class computing". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2011/02/09/ibms-mira-supercomputer-does-ten-petaflops-with-ease-inches-us/. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
External links [link]
- Mira press release by Argonne National Laboratory
https://wn.com/IBM_Mira
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation (commonly referred to as IBM) is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation, with corporate headquarters in Armonk, New York. IBM manufactures and markets computer hardware, middleware and software, and offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology.
The company originated in 1911 as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR) through the consolidation of The Tabulating Machine Company, the International Time Recording Company, the Computing Scale Company and the Bundy Manufacturing Company. CTR was renamed "International Business Machines" in 1924, a name which Thomas J. Watson first used for a CTR Canadian subsidiary. The initialism IBM followed. Securities analysts nicknamed the company Big Blue for its size and common use of the color in products, packaging and its logo.
In 2012, Fortune ranked IBM the second largest U.S. firm in terms of number of employees (435,000 worldwide), the fourth largest in terms of market capitalization, the ninth most profitable, and the nineteenth largest firm in terms of revenue. Globally, the company was ranked the 31st largest in terms of revenue by Forbes for 2011. Other rankings for 2011/2012 include №1 company for leaders (Fortune), №1 green company in the United States (Newsweek), №2 best global brand (Interbrand), №2 most respected company (Barron's), №5 most admired company (Fortune), and №18 most innovative company (Fast Company).
IBM (atoms)
IBM in atoms was a demonstration by IBM scientists in 1989 of a technology capable of manipulating individual atoms. A scanning tunneling microscope was used to arrange 35 individual xenon atoms on a substrate of chilled crystal of nickel to spell out the three letter company acronym. It was the first time atoms had been precisely positioned on a flat surface.
On Apr 30, 2013 IBM published an article on its website and a video on YouTube called "A Boy And His Atom: The World's Smallest Movie".
Research
Donald Eigler and Erhard Schweizer of the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California, used a scanning tunneling microscope to position 35 individual xenon atoms on a substrate of chilled crystal of nickel to form the acronym "IBM". They also created chains of xenon atoms similar in form to molecules.
See also
References
External links
IBM (disambiguation)
IBM is International Business Machines, an American multinational technology and consulting corporation, with headquarters in Armonk, New York.
IBM may also refer to:
Organizations
Science and technology
See also
Mira
Mira (/ˈmaɪrə/, also known as Omicron Ceti, ο Ceti, ο Cet) is a red giant star estimated 200–400 light years away in the constellation Cetus. Mira is a binary star, consisting of the red giant Mira A along with Mira B. Mira A is also an oscillating variable star and was the first non-supernova variable star discovered, with the possible exception of Algol. Mira is the brightest periodic variable in the sky that is not visible to the naked eye for part of its cycle. Its distance is uncertain; pre-Hipparcos estimates centered on 220 light-years; while Hipparcos data from the 2007 reduction suggest a distance of 299 light-years, with a margin of error of 11%.
Observation history
Evidence that the variability of Mira was known in ancient China, Babylon or Greece is at best only circumstantial. What is certain is that the variability of Mira was recorded by the astronomer David Fabricius beginning on August 3, 1596. Observing what he thought was the planet Mercury (later identified as Jupiter), he needed a reference star for comparing positions and picked a previously unremarked third-magnitude star nearby. By August 21, however, it had increased in brightness by one magnitude, then by October had faded from view. Fabricius assumed it was a nova, but then saw it again on February 16, 1609.
Mira (surname)
Mira is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
Mira (band)
Mira were a five-piece dream pop/shoegaze band from Tallahassee, Florida, formed in 1996.
History
Mira was formed by vocalist Regina Sosinski, guitarist Tom Parker, bassist Sam Riles and drummer Alan Donaldson. Originally called Still, they were influenced by shoegaze bands such as Slowdive and Cocteau Twins.
After releasing several EPs on their own Tesseract label, the band signed to Projekt Records, and their song "Cayman" appeared on Projekt's cat-themed 1999 compilation A Cat-Shaped Hole in My Heart.
Max Fresen replaced Riles, and the band added guitarist Mark Davidson.
Mira released their eponymous debut album on April 4, 2000.
For second album Apart, Melody Fleck replaced Fresen on bass, and the band toured the U.S.
In 2002, they collaborated on a self-released split single with Cream Abdul Babar, covering each other's songs.
Following 2005's There I Go Daydreamer, the band ceased activity and members moved on to other musical projects.
In 2011, Projekt released a compilation of rare and early Mira recordings, titled The Echo Lingers On (Demos, Outtakes and Rehearsals).
