Supercomputer

Example: "Examples of recent supercomputers include the NEC Earth Simulator and the IBM Roadrunner."

A supercomputer is a high-powered computer system that has processing capabilities far greater than a typical workstation. It may be designed for a specific application, such as simulation modeling or scientific research, or may simply be created to showcase the latest computing technology. A supercomputer may be a built as a single machine or may consist of a cluster of computers that process data in tandem. Because supercomputers are extremely expensive to build and maintain, only a few dozen have been built in the past few decades.

First Published: 2009
Last Updated: September 23, 2009