IBM continues investment in African technology with 14 TFLOPS BG

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ITWeb reported yesterday on IBM’s continuing investment in advanced technology supporting the development of sub-Saharan Africa. You can read a little background on this from insideHPC coverage back in June.

IBM logoIBM’s donation of the $1.6 million supercomputer, Blue Gene/P, is in response to the growing innovation opportunities on the African continent.

While there is a business objective, IBM VP of systems research Mark Dean says: “Sub-Saharan Africa has many needs and we at IBM wanted to make a difference. Blue Gene will give the sub-continent an opportunity to grow.”

…The machine was unveiled on Monday by deputy science and technology minister Derek Hanekom. “The aim of the donation is to enable Sub-Saharan Africa to extend its knowledge, skills base and research in science and technology,” adds Dean.

+5 Karma for IBM. 1,024 BG nodes, with a peak capability of 14 TFLOPS.

Despite being one of two of the most powerful machines on the African continent, the CSIR’s Blue Gene is unlikely to make the Top 500 list just yet. The lowest listed machine is a Fujitsu-Siemens supercomputer, running at 18.81 teraflops

Comments

  1. We are starting to see the emergence of big western corporations taking an interest in Africa. This has great potential.