317. SuperComputer & Mainframe

SuperComputer  &  Mainframe

What is the difference between

a supercomputer and a mainframe?

The distinction between supercomputers and mainframes is not a hard and fast one, but...

Supercomputers generally are used for problems which are limited by calculation speed, while
Mainframes are used for problems which are limited by input/output and reliability and for solving multiple business problems concurrently (mixed workload).
The differences and similarities are as follows:

• Both types of systems offer parallel processing, although this has not always been the case. Parallel processing (i.e., multiple CPU's executing instructions simultaneously) was used in supercomputers (e.g., the Cray-1) for decades before this feature appeared in mainframes, primarily due to cost at that time. Supercomputers typically expose parallel processing to the programmer in complex manners, while mainframes typically use it to run multiple tasks. One result of this difference is that adding processors to a mainframe often speeds up the entire workload transparently.

• Supercomputers are optimized for complicated computations that take place largely in memory, while mainframes are optimized for comparatively simple computations involving huge amounts of external data. For example, weather forecasting is suited to supercomputers, and insurance business or payroll processing applications are more suited to mainframes.

• Supercomputers are often purpose-built for one or a very few specific institutional tasks (e.g. simulation and modeling). Mainframes typically handle a wider variety of tasks (e.g. data processing, warehousing). Consequently, most supercomputers can be one-off designs, whereas mainframes typically form part of a manufacturer's standard model lineup.

• Mainframes tend to have numerous ancillary service processors assisting their main central processors (for cryptographic support, I/O handling, monitoring, memory handling, etc.) so that the actual "processor count" is much higher than would otherwise be obvious. Supercomputer design tends not to include as many service processors since they don't appreciably add to raw number-crunching power. This distinction is perhaps blurring over time as Moore's Law constraints encourage more specialization in server components.

• Mainframes are exceptionally adept at batch processing, such as billing, owing to their heritage, decades of increasing customer expectations for batch improvements, and throughput-centric design. Supercomputers generally perform quite poorly in batch processing.

There has been some blurring of the term "mainframe," with some PC and server vendors referring to their systems as "mainframes" or "mainframe-like." This is not widely accepted and the market generally recognizes that mainframes are genuinely and demonstrably different.

Mainframes and Supercomputers

Most of us would be remembering the chess game between IBM’s Deepblue and Garry Kasparov in 1996. This chess computer has become the first computer system to defeat a world chess champion in a match under standard tournament time controls.
Introduced in 1960’s, Supercomputers are the computers with fastest processing power.  They are the most advanced, sophisticated and expensive computers capable of processing trillions of instructions in a second. CDC6600 is considered as the first Supercomputer designed by Seymour Cray in 1964.
Mainframes are large computers with great processing speed and storage capabilities.   Introduced in 1950’2s, Mainframes are serving the critical back end data processing, banking, ERP, airline industry etc for the last 50 + years.

 Mainframe features

• Mainframe uses its processing power to execute multiple programs concurrently.
• For Mainframe, performance is measured in terms of MIPS (Millions of Instructions per Second).
• Mainframes undertake simple computational task that involves huge amount of external data.
• Mainframes execute broader tasks like critical back end data processing, data warehousing etc.

Supercomputer features

• A Supercomputer utilizes all its processing speed and power in executing a few programs as fast as possible.
• The performance of Supercomputer is measured in terms of Flop/s (Floating Point Operations per Second)
• Supercomputer executes complicated computations and utilizes large memory.
• Supercomputers are purpose built for tasks like simulation, modelling, research etc.

Where are supercomputers used?
Supercomputers are used for highly complex computing purposes like weather forecasting, calculations in fluid dynamics, nuclear research, animated graphics etc. Scientific research organizations use super computers for their highly calculation intensive tasks and bulk data processing, which would take years when processed in a normal computing platform.
HP’s latest Supercomputer with 172.60 TeraFlops is one of the current top supercomputers in India. Param Cluster supercomputer by CDAC comes next and IBM’s Blue Gene Solution comes third. In India, ISRO and IISC are working together now to develop world’s fastest supercomputer by 2017.
Apart from Mainframe computers and Supercomputers, IBM is doing research in a new stream called quantum computing which is faster than supercomputing. This computing uses computer whose the transistors are so small and the computer is working with atoms and molecules. A quantum computer would be capable of solving millions of calculations at once – and able to crack any computer code on Earth.
The recent advancements in high performance computing systems are expected to find feasible solutions for challenges related to energy management, fraud detection, antiterrorism, medical research etc. The big data problem, ie, where the large quantity of unstructured data that does not fit to the current formats of RDBMS is also expected to find a solution with future developments in the computing technology.

About Maintec Technologies

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Mainframe Concepts

Mainframe concepts explained here are taken by some mainframe websites like IBM....

Difference between Mainframe Computer and Supercomputer

Mainframes are used for problems which are limited by data movement in input/output devices, reliability and for handling multiple business transactions concurrently.

Mainframes are designed to handle very high volume input and output and emphasize throughput computing.

Supercomputers are used for scientific and engineering problems which are limited by processing speed and memory size.

Supercomputer have multiple processing units, making its speed unimaginably fast.

Mainframes are measured in millions of instructions per second(MIPS) while assuming typical instructions are integer operations, examples of integer operations include moving data around in memory or checking values.

Supercomputers are measured in floating point operations per second(FLOPS). Floating point operations are mostly addition, subtraction and multiplication with enough digits of precision to model continuous phenomena such as weather prediction and nuclear simulations.

Supercomputer is much concerning with calculating one data in a very high speed.
While Mainframe deals with storing of large amount of data

Therefore we can say that the Supercomputer is concerned much with speed while Mainframe is concerned with computing a large amount of data.

A Mainframe computer is similar only, it is more slower while running larger applications. Usually to huge amounts of data such as a census for every single house hold. Otherwise, there is no difference.