IBM's
Blue Gene family, claimed by the IT giant as the world's most
powerful line of supercomputers, has performed admirably in terms
of energy-efficiency, according to a new ranking of the TOP500
computers.
The inaugural
Green500 list ranks by energy
efficiency the machines that make the overall TOP500 list of
the world's fastest computers. The new Green500 list shows IBM Blue
Gene supercomputers capturing 26 of the top 27 spots.
Based on its POWER
Architecture, IBM says that Blue Gene is optimised for bandwidth,
scalability and the ability to handle large amounts of data while
consuming a fraction of the power and floor space required by such
high-end computer resources. Blue Gene typically sees use in
research capabilities for life sciences, financial modelling,
hydrodynamics, quantum chemistry, molecular dynamics, astronomy and
space research and climate modelling.
The Green500 list is overseen by two professors at Virginia Tech,
Kirk Cameron and Wu Feng and is intended to serve as a ranking of
the most energy-efficient supercomputers in the world and as a
complementary view to the Top500 List