Supercomputer names are as much a part of High Performance Computing as the hardware and software itself. You just can’t build one and not name it!
What Are Supercomputer Names All About?
To be memorable, supercomputer names should be single words, evoking something powerful and significant from the outside world. Many of these systems are unique, and only a few of them will be installed permanently at one location. An otherwise robotic stack of cores and GPUs, cables, software, and software can be given a unique name to add human touch. Here’s our take on 5 cool supercomputer names and the story behind them…
Hopper
While not quite as fast as its cousin Titan, its name honors one of the greatest figures in computing history: Admiral Grace Hopper. She was a true pioneer, and among many other achievements she created the first ever compiler in history. Admiral Hopper also introduced us to one of the most endearing (and dreaded) terms of all time: the computer “bug”. Her associates found a moth stuck to a Mark II computer relay in 1947. Although we don’t use mechanical parts in any of our systems anymore, the name stuck. Remains of this infamous moth can be found at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History.
Hopper (the supercomputer), was ranked 28th worldwide at the close of 2013. It’s no slouch, and no doubt owes a lot to the amazing lady it’s named after.
Stampede
While not quite the coolest super computer name in Texas (more about that later), it’s still worth mentioning. At over 5 Peta FLOPS, it was ranked 7th in the world at the end of 2013. Stampede is a reminder of the power and speed of a herd of longhorns charging in unison leaving dust and tremors in their wake. That’s about right for a supercomputer that lives Austin, Texas.
Vulcan
Does this supercomputer name refer to the Roman god of fire, or to the great planet Mr. Spock hails from? It might be the former since it was built by geeks. Vulcan produces over 4 Peta FLOPS at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. It was ranked #9 worldwide at the end 2013.
Pangea
Computing legends, herds of angry cattle, gods – why not supercontinents? Pangea, the continent, once covered all the land on Earth as one contiguous mass. If you needed to exercise, you could walk from Alaska and Australia. It was broken up 200 million years ago. This created the 7 continents today. They are tiny pieces of a large jigsaw puzzle.
Pangea, the supercomputer, is a 2 Peta FLOPS machine that ranked 14th in world rankings at the end 2013.
JARVICE
Last but certainly not least, there’s JARVICE. This is the Texas beast with the coolest super computer names. It’s not yet ranked. Its mission: To transform the cloud from a multitude of virtual machines into a simple processing system that simply takes your data, and returns the results. There’s no need to worry about “spinning up” or shutting down “instances” or anything else that would get in the way of your computing tasks. It will solve your problem by simply asking you.
You only pay for what you use. JARVICE is an acronym for Just Applications Running Vigorously In a Cloud Environment and was inspired by Tony Stark’s JARVIS system in Iron Man (sort of his private Watson). Additionally, in the movie the Avengers, Mr. Stark brushes of the complexity of solving a large computational problem by simply offering to push it down to the “Homer” machine’s 600 TeraFLOPS for processing.
Legend says that when Nimbix co-founder and CEO Steve Hebert saw the movie, he practically jumped out of his seat yelling “that’s Nimbix!” in a crowded movie theater. Shouldn’t all computers work that way? Are you facing a difficult problem? It’s not a problem, simply send the data and wait for the answer. Is JARVICE the best supercomputer name out there? Find out more about JARVICE
