Posted: October 26, 2008 |
|
(Nanowerk News) IBM and Moscow State University agreed on Friday to conduct joint research into nanotechnology using a sophisticated supercomputer the university purchased in January.
|
Under the agreement, IBM and university researchers will use the IBM Blue Gene/P supercomputer, which can perform 27.8 trillion operations per second, to understand the behavior of nano-molecular switches.
|
"Nano-molecular switches could one day form a viable alternative to today's transistors," said Kirill Kornilyev, general director of IBM Eastern Europe and Asia.
|
"Due to their 'nano' size, nano-molecular switches could allow for new generations of compact and powerful computing devices."
|
Developing nanotechnology has been heralded by both President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as a key to diversifying the country's resource-based economy. Last month, former UES chief Anatoly Chubais was appointed to head the State Nanotechnology Corporation.
|
Matthias Kaiserswerth, director of IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory, praised the agreement, saying it would "advance computational science to a truly new level."
|
Moscow State University, or MGU, paid about $5 million for the supercomputer in January, making Russia the first East European country to obtain such a machine.
|
Kaiserswerth said getting permission for the high-tech transfer was possible only after MGU signed an agreement that it would not be used for purposes other than scientific research.
|
Blue Gene/P supercomputers are used to simulate and model complex systems and run various scenarios that are impossible on run-of-the-mill systems. |