One giant computer created from 65 small ones

Massey University has created New Zealand's most powerful supercomputer by linking 65 smaller computers.

The "cluster computer" at Massey's Albany campus will be used mainly to analyse genetic sequences.

It was named this week as the world's 304th-most-powerful supercomputer by an American "top 500" website.

It cost only $255,000, or about half the $500,000 Auckland University pays each year to lease two custom-built supercomputers.

Computer science lecturer Dr Martin Johnson, the "architect" of the cluster, said the Massey machines could do calculations twice as quickly as the country's second-fastest computer, which is used for weather forecasting at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.

Massey University Cluster Computer

Top 500