UI Gets Supercomputer

MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) — Researchers at the University of Idaho have a new gadget to work with, a supercomputer. The supercomputer is only about the size of a microwave, but it has four terabytes of memory and 160 different processors. That's according to Jim Alves-Foss, director of UI's Center for Secure and Dependable Systems. The Lewiston Tribune reports the supercomputer has 1,000 times more memory than a standard computer, with about eight times as many processors. A typical desktop computer will have about two gigabytes of memory and two or three processors running on it. Alves-Foss says UI started looking at computers with larger memories when several faculty members mentioned the computers on campus couldn't handle the work they were doing.