New Mexico unveils world’s fastest supercomputer for public use

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson announced the opening of eight community “gateways” to the state’s supercomputer, Encanto, to help develop New Mexico’s educational and high-tech business sector, he said. “We’re bringing the highest level of supercomputing to every corner of the state, giving New Mexicans the opportunity to tap in to its remarkable educational and economic possibilities,” Gov. Richardson said in a statement Tuesday.

According to the New Mexico Computing Applications Center, Encanto is the fastest public supercomputer in the world. The eight “gateway” sites will be able to tap into Encanto’s high performance computing for design and modeling purposes. The Supercomputer can be used for research, educational activities, training, and business modeling in a wide variety of areas including energy, environment, digital film, aerospace, and biotechnology, officials said.

All of New Mexico’s major universities will act as gateways, as well as Santa Fe Community College and the State Capitol. “The Supercomputer is a phenomenal high-tech tool,” said Barbara Couture, President of New Mexico State University. “Being able to provide supercomputing capabilities through a network of universities and businesses enhances research, education, and economic development capabilities across the state.”

Encanto is being housed at Intel in Rio Rancho, where it has reportedly achieved a capacity to perform 172 trillion calculations per second. As part of the “Connect New Mexico” initiative the eight new gateways will be joined by twenty-four other sites around the state, joined by a secure network into the main computer.

Director of Corporate Affairs at Intel for the Southwestern US, Jami Grindatto, joined others in saying the technology will transform the educational and high-tech opportunities around the state.

“This network of sites gives supercomputer access to all New Mexicans and will help create the high-tech workforce of the future.”

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