Here, in part, is a story i found on google news:
Powered by pizzas & soda, NRI builds a supercomputer
SEEMA HAKHU KACHRU
HOUSTON, NOVEMBER 9 : Virginia Tech’s scientists led by 30-year-old Indian American Assistant Professor Dr Srinidhi Varadarajan have amazed the computing industry by putting together the world’s third-fastest supercomputer in a record time of three months, and at record low cost of $5.2 million, using off-the-shelf components.
Most other machines of its class cost upward of $40 million and take years to assemble. Japan’s Earth Simulator, the number one supercomputer, is said to have cost at least $350 million.
The tab was kept low by Varadarajan and his team by using hundreds of student volunteers, who were paid only in soda and pizza for assembling the cluster in less than a month. They ate between 600 and 700 pizzas, Dr Varadarajan, who teaches Computer Science, estimates.
‘‘This is arguably the cheapest supercomputer and is definitely the most powerful home-built supercomputer,’’ adds its architect.
Dean of Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering Prof Hassan Aref calls it ‘‘a groundbreaking project’’ and says the team behind it ‘‘pulled off miracles, raising glass ceilings and opening locked doors’’.
The supercomputer made from 1,100 dual-processor power Mac G5s, nicknamed by some as ‘Big Mac’, ranks third among the world’s 500 fastest supercomputers, many of which handle with ease one trillion calculations per second.
