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This undated handout photo provided by IBM shows lead engineer Don Grice of IBM inspecting the world's fastest computer, nicknamed "Roadrunner", in the company's Poughkeepsie, N.Y. plant. It's the end of the line for the supercomputer that was once the fastest in the world and best known for breaking the once-elusive petaflop barrier. Roadrunner, the $121 million supercomputer housed at Los Alamos National Laboratory will be decommissioned on Sunday, March 31, 2013. The reason: The world of supercomputing is evolving. Roadrunner's replacement is faster, more energy efficient and less expensive.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—It's the end of the line for Roadrunner, a first-of-its-kind collection of processors that once reigned as the world's fastest supercomputer.











Right now, Los Alamos—along with scientists at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California—is using a supercomputer dubbed Cielo. Installed in 2010, it's slightly faster than Roadrunner, takes up less space and came in at just under $54 million.




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