SUPERCOMPUTER PARAGRAPH । Advantages and Disadvantages । SUPERCOMPUTER

 SUPERCOMPUTER

Introduction :- There are many types of computers like mini-computers, supercomputers, microcomputers, mainframe computers, etc. Supercomputers are computers with superpowers. Many countries including China, the United States, and many others worked hard to accomplish the first supercomputer with speed in exaFLOP. India also designed its supercomputer.

History :- In the early 1960s, the term Supercomputer came into existence. During this time the first two supercomputers were designed. The LARC (Livermore Atomic Research Computer) is considered the first supercomputer built by UNIVAC for the US Navy Research Center. Another supercomputer is IBM 7030 Stretch built by IBM. It was developed for the Los Alamos National Laboratory.The third supercomputer was Atlas built by a team led by Tom Kilburn. The concept of time-sharing was developed in this supercomputer so that more than one program can be executed at a time.The transition of transistors from germanium to silicon was developed in 1964 when Seymour Cray introduced CDC 6600. It also resolved the problem of overheating and becoming the fastest supercomputer.After a few years in 1976, Cray discovered Cray-1 which was considered the most successful supercomputer. Later, Cray-2 was also developed in 1985 consisting of eight processing units with high speed.

Supercomputer in India :- During the 1980s, India tried to purchase supercomputers for various activities like academic and weather forecasting. However, the country fails to purchase supercomputers and decided to promote the development of supercomputers in India. According to the ranking of supercomputers, a list is generated which holds the top 500 supercomputers across the world. In this list, three supercomputers are from India.

PARAM Siddhi-AI: The PARAM Siddhi-AI supercomputer holds 89th rank in the global ranking list. It is the fastest supercomputer in India. Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) is responsible for its development.

Pratyush: The Pratyush supercomputer holds 107th rank in the global ranking list. The owner of this supercomputer is the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.

Mihir: The Mihir supercomputer is ranked 187in the top 500 list of supercomputers. The owner of Mihir is National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting. It provides high computing performance.

Advantages and Disadvantages :- 

Some advantages of supercomputers are as follows:

High Speed :-  Supercomputers possess high speed. They are mainly used because of this benefit. When compared the supercomputers are much faster than normal computers. 

High Computational Power :- Supercomputers are built to perform high computational tasks. Due to this feature, supercomputers are responsible for producing good results.

Some disadvantages of supercomputers are as follows:

Very Expensive :- Supercomputers are very expensive and are not easily affordable by the common public. They are mainly made up of large organizations.

High Power Consumption :- Due to their high computation power and speed, the requirement of power is also increased. Supercomputers consume higher electricity than other computers.

Conclusion :- Most of the developing countries including India are trying their best to develop very high-performance supercomputers. They are responsible for saving many lives by alerting them from upcoming disasters, they help to predict the weather which solves most of the problems. They are also helpful in establishing new resources as well as ensuring the safety of the public. They play an important role in the development of our country and hence, the system needs to pay special attention in this field.