Supercomputer unveiled in Canberra

Australia’s most powerful computer has been revealed in Canberra, in what scientists are calling a landmark event for the future of scientific research.

The computer, unveiled by innovation minister Kim Carr, was jointly funded by the Australian National University, the CSIRO and the Federal Government.

National Computational Infrastructure director Lindsay Botten told The Age the new computer will place Australia’s computer science capabilities within the most powerful systems in the world.

“This next generation research supercomputer will boost Australia’s computational research capacity into world ranking,” Botten said.

The computer, known as the “Vayu”, has 12 times the power of its predecessor, with 36 terabytes of memory – the equivalent of 18,000 home PCs. Its storage system can hold the equivalent of about 4,000 average hard drives.