When Computers Filled An Entire Room

Remember the days when computers where imposing boxes that filled an entire room? Thank goodness we live in the 21st Century where computers look more like a roomful of imposing black monoliths.

This is IBM's Blue Gene computer. It was previously the world's fastest (136.9 teraflops), but it turns out that it was only half built at the time. The newly complete system is capable of hitting 280.9 teraflops, which should be absolutely fantastic for scientists needing to model nuclear explosions, study the birth of the universe, or simply render a new McDonalds commercial in record time.

Blue Gene/L tops its own supercomputer record (c|net)