Success Stories

ORAU assists NNSA in Evaluating Roadrunner Supercomputer

The 1.105 petaflop IBM supercomputer, located at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and nicknamed Roadrunner, has had the distinction of being rated the fastest supercomputer in the world—twice.

Since earning the title the first time around in June 2008, the Roadrunner was slightly enhanced, giving it just enough advantage to hold onto its title when the ranking came out again in November 2008.

The success of Roadrunner’s ability to remain ahead of the pack in what is considered to be a highly competitive supercomputing race, has received large amounts of media attention on the international stage.

However, long before Roadrunner obtained—and defended—its title as the world’s fastest machine, Oak Ridge Associated Universities' (ORAU) scientific peer review experts helped provide an objective program review to evaluate the progress of the supercomputer's development.

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Office of Advanced Simulation and Computing first awarded the contract to IBM for development of the Roadrunner back in 2006. While the system was still under development, the NNSA wanted assurances that the project was on track and would be able to meet the scientific goals outlined in the original plan submitted by LANL.

Answering the call, ORAU helped organize and facilitate a panel review where independent reviewers heard from vendors and LANL program managers about progress being made on the computer’s design, implementation and operation.

During the session, program managers and vendors conducted a series of presentations after which, reviewer comments and recommendations were provided to the principals at LANL.

As part of the Roadrunner’s operation goals, the supercomputer will aid in the assessment of aging of nuclear weapons through simulating and modeling programs, a method that will take the place of underground testing.

More Peer Review Success Stories | Scientific Peer Review home