IBM collaboration brings world’s greenest supercomputer to Melbourne

The second stage of a collaboration between the University of Melbourne and IBM will see the arrival of the world’s greenest supercomputer, the IBM Blue Gene/Q, to Melbourne.

To be housed at the Victorian Life Sciences Computation Initiative (VLSCI) hosted by the University, the new supercomputer will be used for intensive medical research and advancing the study of human disease.

The acquisition of the IBM supercomputer is the second stage of an agreement between IBM and the University of Melbourne to provide next generation computational capacity for life sciences research within the VLSCI, in conjunction with the IBM Research Collaboratory for Life Sciences–Melbourne.

The IBM Blue Gene/Q will provide 836 teraflops of processing power – the equivalent of over 20,000 desktop computers – making it one of the fastest supercomputers in Australia, based on the Top500 list, and the fastest supercomputer dedicated to life sciences research in the southern hemisphere.

The Green500 also ranked the IBM Blue Gene/Q as the world’s most energy efficient supercomputer for the third time, in its latest November 2011 edition.
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Main image: The IBM Blue Gene/Q supercomputer