Supercomputing is happening very soon. The world is rapidly advancing that it's hard to keep up with the new gadgets and technologies. In the UK though, light-speed computing could be experienced soon enough as start up Optalysys is working on a new optical processor that could deliver Exascale levels of processing power. The said processor will be installed on a standard desktop PC and will be demonstrated as a prototype in January 2015.
The prototype impresses as it meets NASA Technology Readiness Level 4. This means it can analyze huge data sets at over 340 gigaFLOPS.
"Optalysys' technology applies the principles of diffractive and Fourier optics to calculate the same processor intensive mathematical functions used in CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and pattern recognition," Dr. Nick New, CEO and founder of the company explained.
"Using low power lasers and high resolution liquid crystal micro-displays, calculations are performed in parallel at the speed of light," New further described.
No need for special power as it only needs a standard mains power supply. As for the running cost, the super processor only costs £2,100 every year. This is way cheaper than the fast supercomputer available in China, the Tianhe-2, developed by the National University of Defense Technology. The computer alone costs $320 million but with a $21m annual running cost.
The Exascale processor is only the first from the startup. It's also working on an Optical Solver Supercomputer and a 'Big Data' analysis system. The two are aimed to roll out three years from now.
What makes the superprocessor fast is the fact that it uses light instead of electricity to perform mathematical functions. It's fast and cheap too giving the near possibility of a supercomputer that is affordable.
By year 2020, the specification is expected to be at 300 petaflops already so imaging how fast that would be. The current model will only operate at 9 petaflops and then increasing to 17.1 exaflops by 2020.
The Optalysys Optical Solver Supercomputer reduces energy footprint so it can be considered as eco-efficient as well.
The supercomputer project began as soon as Optalysys raised funds of more than $675,000. Because of the seed money, the company was able to present the project earlier than scheduled to NASA.
