TOP500 Releases November 2016 List

TOP500 has launched the latest list of the world’s top supercomputer at this year’s SC16 event. The 48th edition of the TOP500 list saw China and United States pacing each other for supercomputing supremacy. Both nations now claim 171 systems apiece in the latest rankings, accounting for two-thirds of the list. However, China has maintained its dominance at the top of the list with the same number 1 and 2 systems from six months ago: Sunway TaihuLight, at 93 petaflops, and Tianhe-2, at 34 petaflops, a press release states.

After US and China, Germany claims the most systems with 31, followed by Japan with 27, France with 20, and the UK with 13. A year ago the US was the clear leader with 200 systems, while China had 108, Japan had 37, Germany had 33 and both France and the UK had 18.

Systems greater than one petaflop now occupy the first 117 positions—nearly a quarter of the TOP500. A year ago, that number was 81. At the other end of the list, the entry level system is now 349.3 teraflops, compared to 206.3 teraflops in November 2015.

According to TOP500, InfiniBand technology is now found on 187 systems, down from 205 systems six months ago, and is now the second most used system interconnect in the TOP500. Gigabit Ethernet is now at 206 systems down from 218 systems, in large part thanks to 178 systems now using 10 Gigabit Ethernet technology. Intel Omni-Path technology which made its first appearance on the list six month ago with 8 systems, is now present in 28 systems, including the new 13.6 petaflop Oakforest-PACS supercomputer.

For more information, visit TOP500.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.