The Role of the Supercomputer in the Modern World of Innovative Technologies

Abstract

What is a supercomputer and why is it needed? What place does it occupy among computing equipment? Thanks to this article, we will determine the evolution and role of the supercomputer in the modern world and in the life of an average citizen. A supercomputer is a class of the most powerful computer systems available, which are evaluated in comparison with currently existing general purpose computer systems and the level of technology development. In general, the term "supercomputer" refers to a complex of server computers. All of them are connected to each other and work in parallel through a high-speed network. The similarity of a home computer and a supercomputer lies in their functions – data storage and processing, belonging to the same von Neumann architecture (the architecture of computing machines, the feature of which is the joint storage of data and machine commands in cells of the same memory). But the difference is huge in quantitative characteristics: these are the arrays of data that can be processed on these devices and the speed of performing the assigned tasks. By the way, a new unit of measurement – FLOPS – was proposed for measuring the speed of supercomputers. It is thanks to this value that performance is measured - the higher the number, the more powerful the computer is and which serves as the basis for ranking supercomputers. Today, supercomputers help solve a number of tasks in various fields – medicine, physics, mathematics, energy, etc. and are considered advanced computing technology. Traditionally, supercomputers are not considered rare: their development is ongoing and they bring a lot of benefits in many areas. In the future, powerful computing machines can become the main assistants in fields closely related to machine learning and artificial intelligence. Keywords: supercomputer, development evolution, computer architecture, FLOPS.