World's most powerful 'green' supercomputers

HPC4 has set the world record with highest processing capacity, billions of operations per second.

FERRERA ERBOGNONE (Reuters) - From the outside, it looks like a giant bunker, but inside it houses one of world s most powerful supercomputers, Eni s HPC4. Hosted inside the Green Data Center (Eni s central computer system), it s so powerful it can make 18.6 million-billion operations per second, equal to as many as seven and a half billion computers. That s one for every person on the planet, working 24/7.

But, what for? Eni s HPC supercomputer processes data from deep beneath the earth s surface, from all over the planet. Information about seismic activity, and oil and gas reserves are then fed to Eni s Green Data Center where an accurate picture of the subterranean world is built. In fact, it led to the discovery of Zohr, the largest gas field in Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea.

Eni s Head of ICT Operations & End User Services, Gabriele Provana, says the "HPC4 has set the industry world record with the highest processing capacity, millions of billions of operations per second".

As well as being powerful, by using outside air to cool the entire system down, it s also eco-friendly. Head of the Green Data Center, Walter Nardelli says "it s  green  because it has a particularly high efficiency, and even breaks world records in this area."

A brand new photovoltaic plant, characterized by an innovative solar tracking system, also sits next to the building.

Both the HPC4 and Green Data Center have been engineered to ensure the maximum level of energy efficiency with all energy produced by the plant, being absorbed by users of the Center.