INDUSTRY

IBM today is announcing that the German weather agency, Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), with the support of the German federal government, will increase the performance of its IBM supercomputer by as much as 55 percent to better forecast the development and movement of cyclones and thunderstorms, and better predict strong rainfalls in river systems and rising water levels which cause catastrophic floods. The supercomputer, based on an IBM eServer pSeries system powered by 1,280 processors at a computing power of 1.9 teraflops, will have a computational power of 3 teraflops by the end of this year. The IBM supercomputer directly supports Germany's disaster protection program. The earlier, more precisely and more locally the DWD can issue a warning, the better the government services and general population can prepare for an expected flood, storm or other weather related danger.