[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 13] [Senate] [Pages 17758-17759] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]SENATE RESOLUTION 637--TO HONOR THE VISIONARY AND EXTRAORDINARY WORK OF LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY AND IBM ON THE ROADRUNNER SUPERCOMPUTER Mr. DOMENICI (for himself and Mr. Bingaman) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources: S. Res. 637 Whereas on May 26, 2008, the Roadrunner supercomputer of the Los Alamos National Laboratory broke a historic barrier by being powerful enough to run at a petaflop, 1,000,000,000,000,000 calculations per second, making the Roadrunner supercomputer the fastest computer in the world; Whereas International Business Machines Corporation (referred to in this resolution as ``IBM'') and Los Alamos National Laboratory overcame the challenges of technological innovation to achieve a petaflop ahead of schedule; Whereas the Roadrunner supercomputer will enable the United States to tackle new and more challenging problems; Whereas the Roadrunner supercomputer will be primarily devoted to national security in the United States and will be used for ensuring the safety and reliability of the weapons stockpile of the United States and for research in astrophysics, materials science, energy research, medicine, and biotechnology; [[Page 17759]] Whereas Cell-based supercomputer technology of IBM is the most energy efficient in the world; Whereas the new high-performance computing capabilities enabled by hybrid Opteron-Cell machines of IBM in the Roadrunner supercomputer of Los Alamos National Laboratory enhance and improve United States competitiveness; Whereas from maintaining employment records for millions of people of the United States, to providing technology to help the United States run the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System, land on Mars, end the physical testing of atomic weapons, and now help national security by ensuring the safety of the nuclear weapons stockpile of the United States and researching issues of critical importance such as human genome science and climate change, the partnership of IBM with the Federal Government and the dedication of that partnership to solving critical problems that are seemingly impossible have remained unrivaled and relentless for more than 80 years; Whereas the Roadrunner supercomputer is the most recent achievement of long-standing science and technology leadership of Los Alamos National Laboratory, from the Manhattan Project to the role of the Laboratory today as a premier national security science laboratory; and Whereas, the Roadrunner supercomputer funding was initiated with $35,000,000 in the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 2006 (Public Law 109-103): Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the Senate honors the visionary and extraordinary work of Los Alamos National Laboratory and IBM for-- (1) pushing the barriers of science and providing the United States with historical high-performance computing capabilities that will allow some of the most challenging problems in science and engineering to be solved; and (2) achieving the capability to make petaflop calculations, which-- (A) is considered a crucial milestone internationally; (B) is considered a sign of the competitiveness of the United States in the critical new area of high-performance computing capability; and (C) will allow the United States to solve even bigger and more complex problems from the safety of the nuclear deterrent of the United States to human genome science and climate change. Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to introduce a resolution to recognize the achievement of a major scientific milestone by two great American institutions--Los Alamos National Laboratory and IBM--to build the first supercomputer to break the ``petaflop'' barrier in supercomputing. A petaflop is a million, billion calculations per second. Think of that--a million, billion calculations in a second. If every human being on the planet were given a calculator it would take 50 years to do what this supercomputer can do in a single day. This supercomputer is called the ``Roadrunner'' and was developed cooperatively by the Los Alamos National Laboratory and IBM--two American institutions which have a long and prestigious history in delivering major technological breakthroughs for the Nation. The Roadrunner is the fastest computer in the world. It more than doubles the previous record. We can be very proud this achievement for American science and technology. It highlights the essential role our national laboratories play in advancing the state of the art for high performance computing--a vital component of our national security and scientific leadership. Every year, computing power increases at a pace set by America's national laboratories. From developing advanced computing architectures and algorithms, to creating effective means for storing and viewing the enormous amounts of data generated by these machines, the laboratories have made high performance computing a reality. These applications go well beyond security and basic science. The laboratories have worked hard to transition these capabilities to academia and industry, simulating complex industrial processes and their environmental impact, including global climate change. Collaborations with the private sector have also driven down the cost, so that now high performance does not mean high expense. This has had an enormous impact, placing advanced computing within reach of an ever wider circle of users. These achievements did not happen by accident. They required planning, commitment and follow through. Indeed, the Roadrunner began as an earmark in the fiscal year 2006 appropriations bill. Congress must ensure that the world class simulation capabilities within the complex are maintained and investments are made to drive future innovation. We must continue to raise the bar, giving our best and brightest new goals to work toward, ensuring that America will retain its technical leadership in advanced computing. I hope my colleagues will join me in recognizing Los Alamos National Laboratory and IBM for reaching yet another milestone in supercomputing. In particular, I want to commend the members of the Roadrunner team. From Los Alamos: Sriram Swaninarayan, Paul Henning, Adolfy Hoisie, Guy Dimonte, Darren Kerbyson, Brian Albright, Tim Germann, Ben Bergen, Ken Koch, Manuel Vigil, Randal Rheinheimer, Parks Fields, John Cerutti. From IBM: Nicholas Donofrio, Cornell Wright, William Zeitler, David Turek, Don Grice, and Catherine Crawford. Participants from academia included Steven Zuker of Yale University and James DiCarlo from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Congratulations on a job well done. Top 10 Fastest Supercomputers in the World (June 2008). Name, Location, Speed (TFlop/s). 1. Roadrunner (IBM), Los Alamos, NM (NNSA), 1026.0. 2. Blue Gene/L (IBM), Livermore, CA (NNSA), 478.2. 3. Blue Gene/P (IBM), Argonne, IL (DOE), 450.3. 4. Ranger (Sun), Univ. of Texas, TX, 326.0. 5. Jaguar (Cray), Oak Ridge, TN (DOE), 205.0. 6. JUGENE (IBM), Juelich, Germany, 180.0. 7. Encanto (SGI), NMCAC, NM, 133.2. 8. EKA (HP), TATA SONS, India, 132.8. 9. Blue Gene/P (IBM), IDRIS, France, 112.5. 10. SGI Altix ICE (SGI), Total Exploration, France, 106.1. ____________________