New U.S. computer to be world's fastest

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., March 23 (UPI) -- A supercomputer commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy means the United States will again be home to the fastest computer in the world, researchers say.

The computer, dubbed "Titan," is predicted to achieve a computation speed 20,000 trillion calculations (20 petaflops) per second, PhysOrg.com reported Wednesday.

If successful, it will surpass China's Tianhe-1A, unveiled last October by the country's National University of Defense and boasting a speed of 2.5 petaflops.

The Titan, to be built by Cray Computer, will become part of a collection of some of the fastest computers in the world at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory facility in Tennessee, joining the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's Gaea, the National Science Foundation's Kraken and the Department of Energy's current workhorse, the Jaguar.

The Titan is expected to be used by the Energy Department to calculate complex energy systems and will cost the U.S. government approximately $100 million.

The first stage of the Titan computing array is expected to be delivered by the end of this year with the second stage scheduled for sometime next year.