U.S. supercomputer now world's fastest

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OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Nov. 11 (UPI) -- The Cray XT Jaguar supercomputer at the U.S. Energy Department's Oak Ridge National Laboratory is now the world's fastest open research supercomputer.

Oak Ridge engineers increased the system's computing power to a peak 1.64 petaflops -- one quadrillion mathematical calculations per second -- making Jaguar the world's first petaflop system dedicated to open, as opposed to classified, research. Scientists said they have already used the upgraded Jaguar to complete an unprecedented superconductivity calculation that achieved a sustained performance of more than 1.3 petaflops.

"Jaguar is one of science's newest and most formidable tools for advancement in science and engineering," said Dr. Raymond Orbach, the Energy Department's undersecretary for science. "It will enable researchers to simulate physical processes on a scale never seen before, and approach convergence for dynamical processes never thought possible."