President Obama Honors IBM's Blue Gene Supercomputer With National Medal of Technology and Innovation
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President Obama recognized IBM (NYSE: IBM) and its Blue Gene family of supercomputers with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the country's most prestigious award given to leading innovators for technological achievement.
President Obama will personally bestow the award at a special White House ceremony on October 7. IBM, which earned the National Medal of Technology and Innovation on eight other occasions, is the only company recognized with the award this year.
Blue Gene's speed and expandability have enabled business and science to address a wide range of complex problems and make more informed decisions -- not just in the life sciences, but also in astronomy, climate, simulations, modeling and many other areas. Blue Gene systems have helped map the human genome, investigated medical therapies, safeguarded nuclear arsenals, simulated radioactive decay, replicated brain power, flown airplanes, pinpointed tumors, predicted climate trends, and identified fossil fuels -- all without the time and money that would have been required to physically complete these tasks.
The system also reflects breakthroughs in energy efficiency. With the creation of Blue Gene, IBM dramatically shrank the physical size and energy needs of a computing system whose processing speed would have required a dedicated power plant capable of generating power to thousands of homes.
The influence of the Blue Gene supercomputer's energy-efficient design and computing model can be seen today across the Information Technology industry. Today, 18 of the top 20 most energy efficient supercomputers in the world are built on IBM high performance computing technology, according to the latest Supercomputing 'Green500 List' announced by Green500.org in July, 2009.
About IBM
For more information, visit http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet
Note to registered journalists and bloggers: To view and download Blue Gene b-roll in broadcast or streaming quality, please go to: http://www.thenewsmarket.com/ibm.
Additional Blue Gene photos and other materials for journalists are available in the IBM Press Room at http://www.ibm.com/press/us/en/presskit/28422.wss.
Contacts:
Michael Loughran
IBM Media Relations
914-945-1613
mloughra@us.ibm.com
Steven Eisenstadt
IBM Media Relations
914-766-8009
saeisens@us.ibm.com