While the cloud is now ubiquitous in enterprise computing, there is one area where the shift to cloud has only just quietly begun: supercomputing. A catchall term for the world’s largest, most powerful computers, supercomputers were once available only to governments, research universities, and the most well-heeled corporations, and were used for cracking enemy codes, simulating weather, and designing nuclear reactors. But today, the cloud is bringing supercomputing into the mainstream.
How Cloud-Based Supercomputing Is Changing R&D
The cloud has made the processing power of the world’s most powerful computers accessible to a wider range of companies than ever before. Instead of having to architect, engineer, and build a supercomputer, companies can now rent hours on the cloud, making it possible bring tremendous computational power to bear on R&D. But where should companies start? What kinds of projects could benefit from this investment? There are a few common uses that have proven value: evaluating new designs through cloud-based simulation instead of physical prototyping, simulating a product’s interaction with real-world scenarios when physically prototyping is impractical, and predicting the performance of a full range of potential designs. It also opens up the possibilities for new products and services, which would have previously been impossible or impractical.