PROCESSORS

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is home to the United States' fastest operational unclassified supercomputer. PNNL's 11.8 teraflops industry-standard HP Integrity system came to full operating power in late August. Based on peak performance, the PNNL machine is the fifth fastest system in the world. "The U.S. Department of Energy continues to demonstrate its competitiveness in high-performance computing capabilities by investing in new systems and new approaches to scientific inquiry," said Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham. The supercomputer will enable scientists to solve scientific problems that are more complex, and do so more quickly, than other architectures. "With this machine, PNNL is providing a balanced architecture that is designed specifically for environmental, chemical and biological sciences and the priorities of DOE's Office of Science," said PNNL Director Len Peters. The supercomputer is housed in the Molecular Science Computing Facility of the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a DOE scientific user facility located at PNNL. Scientists from around the country can access the supercomputer for research through a competitive proposal process.