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AMD processors made their way from Dubi to Iran, only to show up in Iran's most powerful supercomputer

Iran has a supercomputer constructed with 216 AMD processors, and it's got a lot of websites pretty mad. 

The whole thing reads like an advertisement really.  "An enormously powerful supercomputer" proclaims Slashdot. "such advanced U.S. computing technology is a real breach in U.S. sanctions," warns a UPI editor.

It's true that U.S. semiconductors are banned from entering Iranian borders, but I wonder if those editors know the computing power 860 gigaFLOPS really commands in the HPC world.

A total of four PlayStation 3s running Linux have just a hair less computing power than this computer.  A pair of IBM's newest and tiniest BladeCenter QS21 servers would out-compute Iran's new supercomputer without breaking a sweat.

InformationWeek was quick to get a quote on the story: "AMD fully complies with all United States export control laws, and all authorized distributors of AMD products have contractually committed to AMD that they will do the same with respect to their sales and shipments of AMD products ... Any shipment of AMD products to Iran by any authorized distributor of AMD would be a breach of the specific provisions of their contracts with AMD."

Just for comparison, IBM's BlueGene/L, the world's fastest publicly-known supercomputer, runs at a mere 478 teraFLOPs.

Amirkabir University of Technology, owner of the supercomputer, claims the system is for weather forecasting -- incidentally using the MM5 platform developed by the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research.

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By GeorgeOrwell on 12/11/2007 11:24:24 PM , Rating: -1
It is one step away from the latest Harold & Kumar tale of adventure.

Okay, nevermind that it is Hector & Abu, not Harold & Kumar.

Either way, there is going to be BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE ISLAM when they find out they bought busted chips.

But, in a stunning setback to world terrorism, the atomic-powered maglev train that Iran is building to shuttle terrorists to and from Afghanistan, will be many months behind schedule.

All due to the faulty performance of the early stepping Barcelona. No folks, it was not the B2 bomber that was used to fight terrorism, but the B2 Barcie. Say what you will about AMD, but Hector and Abu have saved the day. And every day that a working Barcelona stepping is delayed is another day of freedom and democracy, a beautiful day where the Train of Terror doesn't run.

Stay tuned for the further adventures of Hector & Abu as they take on the devious and nefarious plans of the Axis of Evil!

How will Hector & Abu derail the plans of the Axis of Evil next time? Will they use a strategic delay of the 45nm process technology? Or perhaps something even more drastic?

Well, we know Hector & Abu will fight evil no matter the cost! "Hey boys, Let's ROLL!"




By ZJammon on 12/12/2007 9:44:49 AM , Rating: 1
Sounds almost like a lame tv series. Wait a second, aren't you suppose to be on strike?


By Terberculosis on 12/12/2007 11:19:42 AM , Rating: 2
Is it just me, or are there a lot of people here who don't apreciate sarcasm?


By GeorgeOrwell on 12/12/2007 7:45:20 PM , Rating: 1
As the masses slip further into ignorance and dullness, the wit and gameplay of sarcasm shall be lost, replaced by the base humor and crude violence that puts on a fancy cape and calls itself "television" or "hollywood". Maybe for all intents and purposes, it is already so.

Out of the caves man came. But back into caves, darker than any cave ever was, are what man lives in today. Man laughs away the pain, drinks to dull the dullness, and tells himself that happiness is only a channel change away, that his life matters because he watches the "right" channels.

So much for "in his image". So much for the power and glory.

Yes, my man. The number is large, countless. THEY ARE LEGEND.


By ZJammon on 12/12/2007 11:11:40 PM , Rating: 2
One has to wonder what kind of dribble is being passed off as sarcasm these days. As for your rant about the ignorant and dull masses of uneducated cavemen… Do I detect a hint of elitism? You seem enamored with the idea that you’ve somehow grasped a truth that none have accessed. Such intellectual snobbery sickens me as I run into it often in the world of academia.

On a side note, you make many references to “Hollywood”. Scary the day one falls into darkness they charge others have…


By OxBow on 12/12/2007 11:44:50 AM , Rating: 1
Excellent!

In response to the question of how fast the governments secret supercomputer runs, I don't think they've been able to get that memo out of their committee to review legacy boondogles.


By Silver2k7 on 1/2/2008 5:13:45 AM , Rating: 2
It took what 20 years for the government to aknowledge that they had a faster chip than intel did back in the 8086 dats.. so do they still make chips and how fast are they now.. would be interessting to know this..

If the government/military do have a secret fab somewhere, I guess someone should be able to follow the money trail.. since a fab costs what 30-40 billions ?


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