The Top500 list of the world’s fastest supercomputers was released June 23 and the list reflects how high performance computing is changing. Once reserved for the most complex of computing problems, HPC is now finding its way into more corporate data centers to handle tasks such as risk analysis. The reason is that this extreme computing power is becoming more affordable.

Consider also, that industry standard processors – those made by Intel and AMD – are found in more than three-quarters of the systems listed in the Top500. Sure, IBM’s BlueGene/L System at DOE’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory holds the No 1. spot for the fourth time, but the number of industry standard systems running Linux is on the rise.

The Top500 says that 289 systems, or nearly 60%, use Intel processors, up from 261 systems six months ago. Opteron processors are found in 105, or 21%, of the top 500 supercomputer sites, down from 113 six months ago. But overall, the number of dual-core Intel and AMD processors is growing.

As far as vendors go, HP, for the first time, outpaced IBM to hold the lead in the total number of HPC sites on the list. HP systems make up nearly 41% of the list, compared to 32% six months ago. Its BladeSystem c-Class Servers accounted for 152 of the 203 HP installations. IBM now accounts for just 38% of the systems, down from 47% six months ago. IBM still leads in overall performance, however, and HP doesn’t have a system in the top 50.

It’s clear that HP is taking a stronger interest in HPC. Just last week, HP announced an expanded partnership with Microsoft to combine its hardware with Microsoft Compute Cluster Server software. The idea is to make it easier for corporate users to deploy HPC clusters, HP executives say.

Read more about the Top500 list here, get info about Sun’s new Constellation supercomputer here, and find out how IBM is going to push BlueGene even higher here.

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