Two of the industries most interesting processors, AMD's server-
class “Opteron” and the notorious “Cell” CPU, are becoming
paired together in a strange mix of technologies. IBM recently
won a bid to build a supercomputer that will utilize both
processors , supposedly achieving a calculation rate of 1
Petaflop. Dubbed “Roadrunner”, the machine is being built for
the Los Alamos National Labratory at a cost of around $35
Million. While the official word from them hasn't yet been
heard, there are already rumored finish dates: Now sources
familiar with the machine have said that IBM has won the
contract and that the National Nuclear Security Administration
is expected to announce the deal in coming days. The system is
expected to be built in phases, beginning in September and
finishing by 2007 if the government chooses [to] build the full
petaflop system. Neither IBM or LANL have commented on the
pending deal. The mere idea of a such a beast raises a lot of
questions, such as the technology behind bringing two dif