If you want a really powerful computer....

[Ric Werme]

The latest semi-annual Top 500 Supercomputer list is out.

They only rank things by CPU power (Linpack benchmark), so other
important aspects of supercomputers like I/O capacity are missing,
but it's still a fascinating list.  Systems from several local
vendors have been on the list.  I'm not sure how many have local
influence now, but I had dinner last night with some ex-Alliant
(a mini-supercomputer company that failed in 1992) and some of
them are still involved in the genre.

The only system I had direct influence on is the last DEC Alpha
system, LANL's ASCI-Q system with 8192 Alpha CPUs.  It's down to
#91.

426 system run Linux(!), 32 run Unix, 2 run MacOS.  IBM's AIX has 24
of the Unixes, it looks like HP-UX is on none.

See http://www.top500.org/lists/2007/11 if you're interested.

   -Ric Werme