WHAT IS THE MOST POWERFUL SUPERCOMPUTER IN THE WORLD?

Frotiere is the first exascale supercomputer. This means that it is a computing system capable of at least one exaflop or a billion- billion calculations per second (1018)

We were heralded into a new era of computational capability in May 2022 as the U.S. retook the top spot in the race to build the world's fastest supercomputer. Capable of billion billion operations per second, Frontier is the first exascale supercomputer. This means that it is a computing system capable of at least one exaflop or a billion billion calculations per second (1018).

Different level

The fastest supercomputers that were in existence before the Frontier came into being are still in the petascale, capable of quadrillion (1015) calculations per second. By reaching quintillion (1018) operations per second, Frontier has taken computing to a whole new level.

Built by the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee, the Frontier was able to demonstrate a processor speed of 1.102 exaflops in a benchmarking test called the High-Performance Linpack (HPL).

Faster than the fastest

Frontier took the place of being the world's fastest supercomputer from Japanese supercomputer Fugaku. Fugaku had held the position for two years having scored 415.5 petaflops in the HPL benchmark. At that time, it was thrice as fast as the machine it had ousted - the Summit supercomputer built by IBM, also housed at ORNL.

The progress in this field has been rapid in the last few years as computer scientists worldwide had been working towards surmounting the exascale barrier. The exascale milestone represents a new level of computational power capable of calculating solutions to highly complex problems. Be it climate systems, new kinds of materials and medicines, or even some of the deepest questions of humankind, exascale devices such as the Frontier can efficiently process vast amounts of data.

This incredible machine, which was built at a cost of $600 million, is undoubtedly the most advanced computer currently on Earth. The unmatched capabilities of Frontier as a tool for scientific discovery will surely unlock new frontiers of knowledge.

Picture Credit : Google 

I am really interested in computers and programming



I am a Std X. I am really interested in computers and programming. I want to know more about career options in this field. What’s the difference between a BCA and B.Tech, computer science? Which are the colleges or universities for this line?



Although BCA and B.Tech. are graduate programmes, both are entirely different streams of study. Bachelor of Computer Application is concerned with software designing, data base management and operational functions with the help of multifaceted data within a computer. However, B.Tech. is a professional degree course which incorporates technical subjects along with computer applications. The duration of the BCA course is three years whereas the duration of the B.Tech. course is four years.



B.Tech. has reasonably good employment opportunities. But after having a BCA, aspirants can only expect entry-level jobs in the IT sector. Most of them pursue the 2 years MCA program after their BCA. So it takes total 5 years while B.Tech. takes only 4 years.



All good institutes like IITs and NITs offer B.Tech. in Computer Science. BCA is also offered by many universities and institutes all over India.



 



Picture Credit : Google