Question

As on March 2018, which of the following is the India's fastest supercomputer?
1. Summit
2. Sierra
3. Mihir
4. Pratyush

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 4 : Pratyush

The correct answer is Pratyush.

• Pratyush is set up at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) in Pune and is used for weather and climate predictions.
• India’s most powerful supercomputer Pratyush, the first multi-petaflop device in the country which is being used to improve weather and climate predictions, has made it to the 39th spot on the Top 500 List of supercomputers in the world.
• The 4 petaflop supercomputer has improved India’s ranking in the list from high 300s to under 50 for the first time.
• One petaflop is a million billion floating-point operations per second and is a reflection of the computing capacity of a system
• Pratyush will be used to do more accurate weather and climate forecasting, including the all-important monsoon predictions.

• Mihir:
  • Mihir is a 2.9 petaflop supercomputer that is operational at the National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast in Noida.
  • Its ranks 66th in the Top 500 List of supercomputers in June. 
• Summit:
  • Summit a supercomputer developed by IBM. It is capable of 200 petaflops, making it the second-fastest supercomputer in the world.
• Sierra:
  • Sierra is a supercomputer is used by the National Nuclear Security Administration.
  • It is primarily used for predictive applications in stockpile stewardship, helping to assure the safety, reliability, and effectiveness of the United States' nuclear weapons.