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Frontier Supercomputer Hits New Highs in Third Year of Exascale

Two-and-a-half years after breaking the exascale barrier, the Frontier supercomputer at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory continues to set new standards for its computing speed and performance. The HPE Cray EX supercomputing system reported new highs for problem-solving speeds this week, updated for the TOP500 announcement at the International Conference…
Matt Lakin
November 18, 2024
OLCF HistoryTechnology

Watch: ‘The Journey to Frontier’ Mini-Doc

The job of designing and building the world's first supercomputer capable of exascale speed — running at least a quintillion calculations per second — was no simple task. It took over 10 years of planning and advances in chip technology to culminate in the construction of the Frontier supercomputer at…
Matt Lakin
January 4, 2024
OLCF HistoryScienceTechnology

Charting the New Frontier

The Frontier supercomputer at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory logged a new benchmark this week that further illustrates its world-changing potential and held onto its top ranking as the world’s fastest on the 60th TOP500 list. Frontier set a new speed record for the mixed-precision calculations often used by artificial…
Matt Lakin
November 16, 2022
OLCF HistoryScienceTechnology

Pushing the new Frontier

The numbers are in, Frontier ranks No. 1, and the researchers of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's National Center for Computational Sciences are finally breathing a few sighs of relief. Teams worked around the clock for months to help prepare the new HPE Cray EX supercomputer and gauge its record-setting exascale…
Matt Lakin
June 8, 2022
The Road to ExascaleOLCF HistoryTechnology

The Road to Exascale

Solving the world’s biggest challenges requires the most sophisticated scientific tools, including fast and powerful supercomputers. That’s why the US Department of Energy (DOE) devotes so many resources to designing and building next-generation systems. But back in 2008, the feasibility of exascale-class computing—supercomputers that can perform exaflops, or a billion…
Coury Turczyn
October 18, 2021
Frontier data center constructionOLCF HistoryTechnology

Building an Exascale-Class Data Center

When the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) new exascale supercomputer, Frontier, completes installation at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in 2021, it will later debut as a landmark in high-performance computing with groundbreaking performance of greater than 1.5 exaflops (one quintillion floating-point operations per second). But right now—long before Frontier’s…
Coury Turczyn
December 14, 2020
OLCF HistoryTechnology

Take a Virtual Tour of ORNL’s Supercomputer Center

The National Center for Computational Sciences (NCCS) and Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) house some of the world’s fastest high-performance computing resources. Located at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), these innovative machines are in high-security facilities, not often open to the general public.…
Coury Turczyn
August 10, 2020
OLCF History

OLCF 25: Improving Everyday Products

In 2017, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility celebrated 25 years of leadership in high-performance computing. This article is part of a series summarizing a dozen significant contributions to science enabled by OLCF resources. The full report is available here. Consumer-products giant Procter & Gamble (P&G), a Fortune 500 firm founded…
OLCF Staff Writer
December 6, 2017
OLCF History

OLCF 25: Breaking Down Biomass

In 2017, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility celebrated 25 years of leadership in high-performance computing. This article is part of a series summarizing a dozen significant contributions to science enabled by OLCF resources. The full report is available here. Since 2007, a team led by ORNL’s Jeremy Smith has…
OLCF Staff Writer
December 6, 2017
OLCF History

OLCF 25: Illuminating Dark Matter

In 2017, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility celebrated 25 years of leadership in high-performance computing. This article is part of a series summarizing a dozen significant contributions to science enabled by OLCF resources. The full report is available here. In 2007, researchers shone a galactic-sized light on the dark matter…
OLCF Staff Writer
December 6, 2017
OLCF History

OLCF 25: Resurrecting Earth’s Paleoclimate

In 2017, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility celebrated 25 years of leadership in high-performance computing. This article is part of a series summarizing a dozen significant contributions to science enabled by OLCF resources. The full report is available here. Beginning in 2008, a multi-institutional team led by University of Wisconsin–Madison…
OLCF Staff Writer
December 6, 2017
OLCF History

OLCF 25: Tunneling Electrons

In 2017, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility celebrated 25 years of leadership in high-performance computing. This article is part of a series summarizing a dozen significant contributions to science enabled by OLCF resources. The full report is available here. At the turn of the 21st century, materials scientists at ORNL…
OLCF Staff Writer
December 6, 2017
OLCF History

OLCF 25: Mapping the Nuclear Landscape

In 2017, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility celebrated 25 years of leadership in high-performance computing. This article is part of a series summarizing a dozen significant contributions to science enabled by OLCF resources. The full report is available here. In 2012, an ORNL and University of Tennessee team used the…
OLCF Staff Writer
December 6, 2017
OLCF History

OLCF 25: Unearthing the Subsurface

In 2017, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility celebrated 25 years of leadership in high-performance computing. This article is part of a series summarizing a dozen significant contributions to science enabled by OLCF resources. The full report is available here. In the 1990s, a multi-institutional team used CCS supercomputers to develop…
OLCF Staff Writer
December 6, 2017
OLCF History

OLCF 25: Shaking up Earthquake Preparedness

In 2017, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility celebrated 25 years of leadership in high-performance computing. This article is part of a series summarizing a dozen significant contributions to science enabled by OLCF resources. The full report is available here. Since 2010, a multi-institutional team led by Thomas Jordan of the…
OLCF Staff Writer
December 6, 2017
OLCF History

OLCF 25: Building a SmartTruck

In 2017, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility celebrated 25 years of leadership in high-performance computing. This article is part of a series summarizing a dozen significant contributions to science enabled by OLCF resources. The full report is available here. To increase the fuel efficiency of Class 8 long-haul trucks small…
OLCF Staff Writer
December 6, 2017
OLCF History

OLCF 25: Revealing Supernova Secrets

In 2017, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility celebrated 25 years of leadership in high-performance computing. This article is part of a series summarizing a dozen significant contributions to science enabled by OLCF resources. The full report is available here. In 2003, a group of computational astrophysicists led by ORNL’s Anthony…
OLCF Staff Writer
December 6, 2017
OLCF History

OLCF 25: Detailing Combustion

In 2017, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility celebrated 25 years of leadership in high-performance computing. This article is part of a series summarizing a dozen significant contributions to science enabled by OLCF resources. The full report is available here. A team led by Jacqueline Chen at Sandia National Laboratories…
OLCF Staff Writer
December 6, 2017