IBM cements its supercomputing dominance

When it comes to supercomputing energy efficiency, IBM cannot be beaten -- that's according to the findings of the latest Supercomputing 'Green 500 List' announced by The Green500.org. No fewer than the top 15 positions in the ranking of energy efficiency are held by supercomputers built on IBM high performance computing technology. The list includes supercomputers from across the globe being used for a variety of applications such as astronomy, climate prediction and pharmaceutical research. Ranking the recently announced world's fastest Los Alamos National Laboratories petaflop supercomputer at number three for energy performance -- the list is topped by IBM's own Boeblingen Lab supercomputer which is used for development of IBM blade computing systems. "Energy efficiency has become just as important as simple raw performance for the modern supercomputer. As applications for supercomputers increase, so does the attention on this aspect of their use," said Dave Turek, VP Deep Computing. "Leveraging our $6 billion annual R&D investment, IBM has a rich history of innovation that has significantly increased microprocessor energy efficiency. We have also driven advances that include our Cool Blue technology portfolio and added to our Project Big Green solutions that are designed to simultaneously reduce data center costs and energy use," he added. The third annual Green 500 list is published by The Green500.org. It provides a ranking of the most energy-efficient supercomputers in the world and serves as a complementary view to the TOP500 announced in Dresden last month. In the ranking:

• IBM holds all top ten places with a number of IBM BladeCenter QS22 and LS21 Clusters and Blue Gene/P Solutions.
• Out of the first 40 ranked systems, 39 are IBM-based.
• Out of the top 100 systems, 76 systems are IBM-based.
• The top three supercomputers -- all IBM -- surpass the 400 MFLOPS/watt milestone for the first time -- with the leading system delivering almost half a GFLOP per watt.

In addition to the energy efficient technology solutions, IBM is focused on numerous areas related to energy and the environment, including sustainable supply chains, solar technology, carbon management consulting, advanced water management, intelligent utility networks and intelligent transportation systems. For more information, visit www.ibm.com/green More information about the Green500 List available at: www.green500.org/lists/2008/06/green500.php More information about IBM and HPC Solutions: www.ibm.com/deepcomputing