Iowa State’s computing abilities recently received quite a jolt.

Lightning, Iowa State’s newest high-performance computer, is the second purchased in 2006. The preceding supercomputer, known as CyBlue, was purchased in January, while Lightning was put to use by ISU researchers in mid-August. Lightning’s 376 processors are capable of performing 1.8 trillion calculations per second.

James Davis, Information Technology Services chief information officer, said the High Performance Computing Partnership at ISU, as well as faculty members from various engineering programs, located the machine because it fit with Iowa State’s budget and research ambitions.

“It was a long and deliberate process, searching for the best architecture,” Davis said.

The computer was purchased from Atipa Technologies for $480,000 with money from various research department grants, as well as from the office of the vice president for research and economic development and the office of the chief information officer.

Davis said both CyBlue and Lightning have high performance CPU cycles.

Lightning has very fast processors, and more memory, though it is “coarser grain” in terms of the calculations of a specific aspect of a problem, whereas CyBlue is capable of 5.7 trillion calculations per second, and works best on problems that can be broken into very small pieces.

Although both of the computers are in fact “super,” their memory capacities and solution speeds make them ideal to solve different kinds of problems, while still complementing one another.

“The real advantage is a potent tool that lets scientists extend their work, and solve larger problems in less time. Simulations that would have taken a month to run are now being completed in days, even hours, therefore generating the capability for many more runs,” Davis said.