IBM Supercomputer

Officials at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico are decommissioning a machine that was once the world's fastest supercomputer.

FOX News Radio's Don Mathisen explains why:

The supercomputer is called Roadrunner, and it's a $121 million, first-of-its-kind collection of processors used to model viruses, unseen parts of the universe and do nuclear weapons research.  It was built by IBM and Los Alamos from commercially-available parts.  It can process more than a quadrillion mathematical calculations per second - a quadrillion is one-thousand million million.

After give years, Roadrunner became obsolete, replaced by a smaller, faster, cheaper, more energy-efficient supercomputer.

Don Mathisen, FOX News Radio.