中國天河2號將成全球最快超級計算機
U.S. researchers are bracing for the prospect that China will once again have the world's fastest computer─and could hang on to the speed crown for some time.
美國的研究人員正準備迎接中國將再次擁有世界上運算速度最快的電腦這一現實，而且中國的這一地位還有可能保持相當一段時間。China's National University of Defense Technology last week informed visiting scientists about a massive machine in Changsha whose initial test results appear likely to top the next ranking of the 500 largest supercomputers, scheduled for release later this month.
中國的國防科技大學(National University of Defense Technology)上週告知來訪的科學家們，中國一臺巨型計算機的初次測試結果顯示，它有可能在定於本月晚些時候公佈的最新一期全球超級計算機500強排行榜上位列第一。Such systems, used heavily by government agencies for purposes such as weapons design and intelligence-gathering, have long been seen a symbol of national competitiveness─and the focus of recent leapfrogging moves by the U.S., China and Japan.
巨型計算機主要被政府機構出於武器設計和情報收集等目的而使用，它們一向被視爲國家競爭力的象徵，世界運算速度最快計算機的寶座近年來一直被美國、中國和日本這三個國家交替佔據。
A supercomputer in China unveiled in 2010 briefly topped the global speed ranking. But U.S. research institutions recently have fielded the fastest hardware, led by a machine called Titan at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
中國2010年對外公佈的一臺超級計算機曾短暫成爲世界運算速度最快的計算機。但是美國的研究機構又推出了更快的硬件，即田納西州橡樹嶺國家實驗室(Oak Ridge National Laboratory)的一臺叫做“泰坦”(Titan)的計算機。The new Chinese system─called the Tianhe-2, or Milkyway-2─uses two different kinds of computer chips from Intel Corp. INTC -2.60% as well as some homegrown circuitry, according to Jack Dongarra, a U.S. supercomputer expert who saw the system last week. He published details about the machine that were reported earlier by the publication HPCwire.
根據上週親眼看到這一系統的美國超級電腦專家唐加拉(Jack Dongarra)說，中國開發的新系統叫做“天河2號”，使用了來自英特爾的兩種不同電腦芯片以及一些國產的電路系統。他發表了這臺計算機的具體信息，這些信息早些時候已經被HPCwire網站報道。'It's a real system,' said Mr. Dongarra in an interview Wednesday. 'It seems to be ready for production.'
唐加拉週三接受採訪時說，這是一個真正的系統。它似乎已經可以投入生產。Mr. Dongarra, a professor at the University of Tennessee who is also on the Oak Ridge research staff, said Chinese officials put the system's theoretical peak performance at 54.9 quadrillion operations per second─or petaflops, in industry parlance. It reached 30.65 petaflops in a standard test known as Linpack, he said, compared with 17.59 petaflops for the Oak Ridge system.
唐加拉是田納西大學(University of Tennessee)的教授，也是橡樹嶺國家實驗室的工作成員。他說，中國官員稱，該系統理論上的性能峯值是每秒運算54.9千萬億次。他說，在Linpack標準測試中可達到30.65千萬億次，相比之下，橡樹嶺實驗室的系統可達到17.59千萬億次。The U.S. has previously responded to such challenges, including a system from Japan that temporarily held the top speed ranking. But the next U.S. supercomputer that could challenge the Tianhe-2 isn't expected until 2015, said Horst Simon, another supercomputer expert who is deputy director at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
美國之前曾經迴應過此類挑戰，包括運算速度曾經排名第一的來自日本的系統。但是另一名超級計算機專家西蒙(Horst Simon)說，美國能夠挑戰天河2號的下一臺超級計算機預計到2015年纔會出現。西蒙是勞倫斯伯克利國家實驗室(Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)的副主任。'If anybody believes that the Chinese are just in there for a stunt, this machine has proven them wrong,' Mr. Simon said.
西蒙說，如果有人覺得中國人研究超級計算機只是噱頭，這臺計算機可以證明他們錯了。He argued that the U.S. government has invested sporadically in supercomputers lately, while Chinese agencies have spent steadily. 'In some areas where there has been a tradition of U.S. leadership, the Chinese are out there to really be in the race and win,' Mr. Simon said.
他說，美國政府最近對超級計算機進行了零散的投資，而中國的投資一直很穩定。西蒙說，在美國長期佔據領導地位的一些領域，中國人已經在參與競爭並且取得成功。No official price has been released for the Tianhe-2 system, which was constructed with help from the Chinese company Inspur. But some U.S. researchers put the likely cost at $200 million to $300 million.
天河2號系統的官方價格還沒有公佈。天河2號系統是在中國公司浪潮集團(Inspur Co.)的協助下建造的。但是美國的一些研究人員認爲價格可能在2億美元到3億美元之間。Tianhe-2 is a big endorsement for a new Intel product line. The Silicon Valley company's standard microprocessors have been used in supercomputers since the 1990s. But some big machines lately have been enhanced with chips called GPUs, or graphics processing units, from companies such as Nvidia Corp. NVDA -2.14%
天河2號是對英特爾一個新產品系列的巨大認可。自從上世紀90年代以來，這家硅谷公司的標準微處理器就一直被用於超級計算機中。但是一些大型計算機近來使用了叫做“圖形處理單元”(GPU)的芯片，並因此得到性能上的提升，這些GPU來自英偉達(Nvidia Corp.)等公司。Intel has responded with the Xeon Phi, a specialized chip with as many as 61 calculating engines. The new Chinese system has 48,000 of those chips, as well as 32,000 conventional Xeon chips based on a forthcoming design not yet generally available, according to Mr. Dongarra's report.
英特爾的迴應是推出了Xeon Phi，這是一種擁有多達61個計算引擎的專業芯片。根據唐加拉的報告，中國新的系統擁有4.8萬個Xeon Phi芯片，以及3.2萬個傳統的Xeon芯片，這些芯片基於一種即將推出的設計，這種設計目前還沒有全面普及。In addition, the system has about 4,000 chips developed in China that are based on a standard design called Sparc. Mr. Dongarra said Chinese officials appear determined to reduce their dependence on U.S. components.
除此之外，這一系統擁有大約4,000個在中國開發的芯片，這些芯片基於一種叫做Sparc的標準設計。唐加拉說，中國官員似乎下定決心減少對美國零部件的依賴。He doesn't discount the possibility that government agencies in Japan will field a system to rival the Tianhe-2, but he regards the Chinese system as particularly impressive. 'In some sense, it's a wake-up call to the U.S.,' Mr. Dongarra said.
他不否認日本的政府機構也可能推出一個與天河2號相競爭的系統，但是他認爲中國的系統格外令人印象深刻。唐加拉說，在某種意義上，這對美國是個警醒。
