Asia slides further in supercomp rankings
Asia has lost some ground in the world of supercomputing, with fewer machines making it to the latest ranking of the world's top high-performance computing (HPC) systems.
According to a blog posting on Top500 Supercomputer Sites, 48 supercomputers from Asia made it to the Top500 list, down from 58 systems recorded in November 2007.
A year ago, 72 machines from Asia counted among the world's top supercomputers.
Providing some cheer to the region was India's Computational Research Laboratories, which is part of the Tata Group. The Hewlett-Packard Cluster Platform 3000 BL460c system clocked 132.8 teraflops to occupy the No. 8 spot, and is the only Asian supercomputer in the top 10. In November 2007, the same machine was ranked No. 4.
The honor of being the world's fastest supercomputer went to the IBM Roadrunner, which boasts a peak performance of over 1 petaflop. It displaces IBM's Blue Gene, which has been No. 1 since November 2004.
More than half (257) of the HPCs were located in the United States, while Europe increased its share from 149 systems in November 2007 to the current 184.
Japan and China remained strong performers in Asia, housing 22 and 12 supercomp systems, respectively. Six from India made it to the list.
Taiwan, which contributed 11 in the last round, accounted for only three in the latest rankings.