What is a Supercomputer?
A supercomputer is a computer that performs at or near the currently highest operational rate for computers. A supercomputer is typically used for scientific and engineering programs that have to cope with extremely large databases that do a great amount of computation.
In general a supercomputer is actually multiple computers that perform parallel processing. There are two parallel processing approaches , SMP and MPP. The Titan Supercomputer is currently considered to be the worlds fastest supercomputer and there planning to make it even faster, reports Forbes. |
What is a Mainframe?
A mainframe is an extremely high performance computer used for large-scale computing purposes that require greater availability and security than a small scale machine can offer.
Previously mainframes have been thought of as centralized computing rather than the more modern concept of distributed computing. As smaller computer technology advances this line is becoming even more blurred as mainframes become multi-purpose. |