The first of a new breed of supercomputers was born this fall when computer experts combined flash memory with supercomputer architecture to create Dash. Normally supercomputers are measured by how many floating point operations, also known as “flops,” they can complete per second. And at a peak speed of 5.2 teraflops, Dash wouldn’t even make the top 500 list, where the slowest speed is about 17 teraflops. “But if you look at other metrics, such as the ability to do input/output operations, it would potentially be one of the fastest machines,” said Allan Snavely, the project leader for Dash.
Dash Heralds New Form of Supercomputing
October 28, 2009