MIRA: World's fastest supercomputer

Mira. That is her name. She is the supercomputer IBM Corp is building for US department of energy's Argonne National Lab. IBM says, Mira will make more than 10 quadrillion (1 quadrillion = 1,000 trillion) calculations a second, four times faster than China's Tianhe-1A, currently considered the fastest. The world's fastest supercomputer-tobe will make its debut next year.

According to reports, if the entire population of the US does one calculation per second, it will take them a year to run as many calculations as Mira can do in one second. Named after the Latin root to wonder or marvel, Mira is expected to cost roughly $50 million, according to reports. But IBM doesn't comment on the price of its client's systems, says Herb Schultz, market manager for IBM Deep Computing. Neither has Argonne National Lab made that information available to date. Argonne's current supercomputer Intrepid makes more than 500 trillion calculations a second. Mira will be 20 times faster.

Schultz told The Economic Times on Sunday: "Many systems can do the same calculations, but Mira can do them faster and do more per unit time. Because of that, a scientist on Mira can gain greater insight by virtue of examining more time steps in models and simulations." IBM expects Mira to help department of energy (DOE) to do several complex calculations and be a "strong science and technology engine that will fuel national innovation". "Our goal is not to develop a system that is number one on a list. Our goal is to help Argonne advance its research, which will contribute significantly to society," says Schultz. Argonne National Lab is one of USDOE's oldest and largest labs for science and engineering research.

The 10-petaflop Mira, which falls under IBM's "Blue Gene/Q" series of supercomputers, will be made available to scientists from industry, academia and government research facilities around the world, according to reports. It will mean a lot to businesses, too. Says Dan Olds, an analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group in Beaverton, Oregon: "Wall Street will use those computers to analyse their portfolios to see what will happen if interest rates do this or that. [Pharmaceutical] retailers can use them to track cold and flu season, so they know how much tissue or Nyquil to stock in particular stores at particular times."

ISRO builds India's fastest supercomputer

BANGALORE: Indian Space Research Organisation has built a supercomputer, which is to be India's fastest in terms of theoretical peak performance of 220 TeraFLOPS (220 Trillion Floating Point Operations per second). 

The supercomputer "SAGA-220", built by the Satish Dhawan Supercomputing Facility located at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram at a cost of about Rs 14 crore was inaugurated by K Radhakrishnan, Chairman ISRO at VSSC today, ISRO said in a statement. 

The new Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) based supercomputer, "SAGA-220" (Supercomputer for Aerospace with GPU Architecture-220 TeraFLOPS) is being used by space scientists for solving complex aerospace problems. 

"SAGA-220" is fully designed and built by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre using commercially available hardware, open source software components and in house developments. 

The system uses 400 NVIDIA Tesla 2070 GPUs and 400 Intel Quad Core Xeon CPUs supplied by WIPROwith a high speed interconnect. 

With each GPU and CPU providing a performance of 500 GigaFLOPS and 50 GigaFLOPS respectively, the theoretical peak performance of the system amounts to 220 TeraFLOPS, the statement said. 

The present GPU system offers significant advantage over the conventional CPU based system in terms of cost, power and space requirements, it said. 

The system is environmentally green and consumes a power of only 150 KW. This system can also be easily scaled to many PetaFLOPS (1000 TeraFLOPS).

Superfoods for the stomach

Ginger: Ginger contains an active constituent gingerol, which is responsible for its hot, pungent taste, as well as its stimulating and healing properties. Ginger is often used as a therapeutic spice, working on the digestive system by encouraging secretion of digestive enzymes.

Fennel: (SAUNF) Fennel contains anethole, which stimulates secretion of digestive and gastric juices. Fennel also contains aspartic acid, which acts as an anti-flatulent.

It is no wonder, many of us are in the habit of chewing fennel seeds after meals. Fennel is a digestive herb with many medicinal and culinary uses. It acts as a popular "after mint".

Yoghurt : Yoghurt contains probiotics which are responsible for several activities in the gut; such as producing lactase; killing harmful bacteria and improving digestive tract function.

Fenugreek: (METHI) I Fenugreek leaves and seeds assist digestion, help relieve constipation and help overcome flatulence.

Tip: You can soak fenugreek seedsovernight and eat them next morning tohelp relieve you from digestive disorders.

Mint: Mint is used as a treatment for indigestion, colic, heartburn and flatulence. It also can stimulate the appetite and cure nausea and headaches.

Peppermint tea can help soothe a dry throat.

Bay leaf: Bay leaves are used to treat migraines, stressand anxiety. They also improve digestion and help detoxifythe system.

Virtualised disaster recovery holds benefits

While the first wave of virtualisation has consolidated server hardware into virtual hosts and recognized significant savings in physical machines, small and midsized organisations must now consider the impact of this consolidation on their backup and disaster recovery plans, according to a report from QuorumSoft. By encapsulating workloads that can be shifted between physical hosts and clouds, new options for performance, redundancy and disaster recovery exist for companies that have implemented virtualisation, the report noted.

A formal disaster recovery plan can enable an organisation to survive a serious event by eliminating confusion during a disaster, and setting clear expectations for what systems and services will be brought online when and how. Many factors go into the creation and maintenance of a DR plan, including the systems, network, budget, staff, resources and, of course, business requirements, the report explained.

QuorumSoft researchers explained disaster recovery encompasses a broad set of practices within the broader discipline of business continuity. From an IT perspective, disaster recovery concerns itself with the processes needed to provision for and recover from incapacitation of IT capabilities at a primary site. Incapacitation could result from a natural disaster, terrorism or intentional sabotage, massive hardware failure, and any other adverse event.

“The process of developing a DR plan is complex. Of the many books and professionals dedicated to the topic, most recommend starting with a simple audit of your environment. Itemizing and documenting your services, systems and their dependencies can be a big help in understanding your environment, and paves the way for the rest of the work,” the report said. “Identifying the 'fragile artifacts' within an organisation allows you to plan for their protection,” it added.

The report also pointed out that for organisations on a tight budget, price is a crucial factor when introducing new backup products and solutions, and IT organisations with a broader mandate and bigger budget to pursue business continuity objectives should consider the total cost of the solution over time, in addition to the up-front sticker price.

“It is now possible for small and midsized organisations to access and use many of the same powerful IT capabilities once available only to larger organisations with more resources. Implementing virtualised IT environments is one area. As smaller organisations leverage the potential of virtualisation, it is critical they consider the implications on their disaster recovery planning,” the report concluded. “By gaining an in-depth understanding of specific strategies for disaster recovery, small and mid-sized organizations can leverage the potential of virtualization without creating a hidden, potentially costly, risk to their systems and data if a major disruption to their IT systems occurs,” it said.

Cloud service sourcing immature & risky: Gartner

The $820 billion IT services market is changing quickly and dramatically, as cloud computing and offshoring become mainstream, and senior IT managers should take steps to manage inherent risks and unexpected costs during the cloud services revolution, according to Gartner.

During the next few years, market dynamics will determine whether cloud-enabled outsourcing will be the demise of traditional outsourcing, if it will lead to the convergence of services and products currently marketed "as a service," or if it will result in next-generation outsourcing.

Cloud-driven business and IT services include all types of solution that are developed, bundled and packaged as outsourcing service offerings for which the business or IT service provider uses one or more cloud computing technologies within the solution's overall architecture. Gartner refers to these services as "cloud-enabled outsourcing service offerings." These services can be delivered directly by a cloud provider or via a service aggregator for the delivery of pre-engineered and configurable business solutions in a timely and cost-effective manner.

"Cloud service sourcing is immature and fraught with potential hazards. The hype around cloud computing services has increased interest, as well as caution, for IT managers trying to determine where, when and if cloud services can provide valuable outcomes for their businesses," said Frank Ridder, Research Vice President at Gartner. "Cloud computing is driving discontinuity that introduces exciting opportunities and costly challenges. Organisations need to understand these changes and develop realistic cloud sourcing strategies and contracts that can reduce risk," he added.

Ridder said that traditional IT services often find organisations locked in, fighting with rigid delivery or hesitation to change when engaged in traditional IT services deals. Innovation seldom materializes and solutions fail to scale, and service providers often struggle with their profits.

In the new cloud services scenario, however, flexibility, agility and innovation are design principles and, over time, service providers will succeed in delivering on these principles. The market also expects scalability, cost-efficiency and pay-per-use pricing models from cloud services solutions. Although cloud services already provide these, service providers manage their risks through terms and conditions that are still immature. However, Gartner believes that solutions and their commercial terms are maturing quickly.

To avoid the potential pitfalls and hidden costs of cloud sourcing, Ridder said that organisations need to ensure they understand the short- and long-term implications of cloud services, on the demand and supply side, as well as on the sourcing life cycle itself. The services sourcing life cycle includes four crucial elements: sourcing strategy, vendor selection, contracting, and management and governance.

"The life cycle is a critical area to plan and manage, regardless of whether organizations source their IT services through internal or external resources. Our forecasts indicate that organisations spend 53% of their IT services budget on external services, and that spending is growing 3.9% per year, while new categories of services are experiencing double-digit growth," said Ridder. "Organisations can use Gartner's extensive analysis of changes in delivery, pricing, investment and cost to more effectively develop their cloud sourcing strategies, negotiate their cloud services contracts and manage the performance of their providers," he added.

AC causes more harm than good

A room where an air conditioner is running, is as dry and arid as a desert. This is because air conditioners pull out humidity from the air in a room and ACs are not selective about the moisture that they pull. "ACs pull out moisture from the skin as well and leave it feeling dry and stretched. If your skin is not sufficiently protected to combat it, constant dryness will affect the inner layer of the skin. When skin becomes dry and stretched, it feels itchy. Those who have a dry skin will notice that their skin becomes flaky. Air conditioners aggravate skin disorders," says cosmetologist and skin specialist, Dr Rajan T D. 

AC removes water i.e. humidity from indoor air and robs the outer layer of the epidermis of skin. This constant loss of water and lack of replacement of water from the skin tissues below result in flaking, dry and chapped skin. Water is essential to keep the blood flowing. It performs the same function for the skin and maintains elasticity. It is important for keeping the skin's elasticity intact. When ACs remove the water or humidity content from a room, skin starts shrivelling. Skin also becomes prone to developing creases and wrinkles. All this hastens the ageing process and there is hardly anyone in this world who would like to have skin that has aged a lot more than their actual years. 

To worsen the situation, people often step out from an air conditioned office or car into the blazing hot sun or walk into an air conditioned place from a hot, outdoor environ. This sudden shift from one extreme climate to another extreme is very stressful for the body. Facial skin is also greatly battered by this abrupt change in temperature. As such, pollution, changing weather conditions, dietary habits, lifestyle stresses cause degeneration of the skin. It seems like skin is constantly struggling to maintain its health against the blows meted out by both, nature and technology. All this stress can be unhealthy and damaging. 

Remedies: 

Since you can't turn off the air conditioners in your office, try not to become dependent on them. Live without the AC while you are at home. Switch on the air conditioners only during the summers. 

Limit the use of soap and water to areas where skin is prone to get dry. Dr Kshama Vibhakar, a consultant dermatologist suggests, "Use moisture rich lotions, not creams to enrich the skin on your face, neck, hands, elbows, knees and wherever else you feel it is necessary. Lotions are water based and add moisture to the skin. 

You can use creams after applying the lotion as creams are oil based and help to seal in the moisture." 

Hydrate your skin by constantly sipping water. It is easy to forget to have water when you are sitting in an air conditioned room. But don't wait to feel thirsty, sip water at constant intervals. Set reminders if needed. Replenish your skin for the lost water. 

Since ACs pull out moisture from a room, place bowls of water in the area. This is a simple way to combat the drying effects of the air conditioner because the AC will pull out water from the bowl of water first instead of the facial skin. 

It is true that air conditioners are a technological comfort. But without proper and consistent care, ACs have the potential to damage skin. Those who have a poor diet, underlying illness or skin that is not well-maintained, will not be able to adjust going from a boiling hot environment to an air conditioned on and their skin may suffer from structural damage, which cannot be treated with over the counter drugs. Hence it is better to be safe than sorry. 

Financial planning: Benefit from the likely dip in interest rates

The high interest rates in the short-term debt market have been the focus of investor attention in the recent past. The traditional bank depositors are being lured by the spiked rates, making most other bonds unattractive, while the wholesale deposits are being offered on even more attractive terms, leading to a slew of fixed maturity plans (FMPs). Based on the assumption that such steep rates may not persist, a tactical investment opportunity may be present in the short-term debt markets. 

What has led to this spike in interest rates? There are three primary reasons. First, the high inflation rate has sparked a hike in policy rates by the Reserve Bank of India. The rate at which the central bank is currently willing to lend to banks is 6.75%, as opposed to 3.25% a little over a year ago. This was the time when banks were primarily lending to the RBI at that rate as there was a slowdown in the demand for loans. 

The second reason is that while the demand for bank loans has moved up sharply, the growth in deposits has not kept pace. Investors have mostly held currency in hand since the rates offered by banks had been too low for too long. Third, there have been frictional pressures on short-term rates, especially due to the high level of unspent current account balances of the government that are held with the RBI. 

The current market view is that there will be a correction in interest rates after the seasonal demand (at the end of March) comes down. Investors want to look beyond the FMP in a rising interest rate market, when a new plan offers a higher rate than the older one. Locking into high-rate, fixed-tenure instruments requires a strategic call to stay invested for the long term. Those who have chosen to buy high interest deposits and FMPs have decided to stay invested till maturity and may not care about the various changes in interest rates in the interim. 

The investors who want to play the short-term debt market are being plagued by two questions: Is a correction likely in the short-term rates? If yes, which product will help capture this gain the most? The gains that investors make from short-term debt funds can come from two sources-interest income and capital gains from a fall in market interest rates. If the rates have gone up by 3-4% in the past six months, they are unlikely to fall to the same extent. This is because a majority of this increase was due to the rise in policy rates by the RBI, and given the inflation levels, the central bank is unlikely to let the interest rates fall. The government's balance with the RBI has already returned to normal levels. The only correction then is likely to be in bank deposit rates, provided the banks have managed to mobilise the volume of deposits that they had planned through aggressive pricing. The correction in deposit rates is likely to be about 1%, or even less. 

For a tactical play on this possible turn in rates, an open-ended, short-term plan could be a good bet. However, two caveats are in order. First, the gain from falling rates in short-term debt funds could be small. This is because they all offer very low average tenures to capitalise on the rising interest rates by re-investing in instruments that are rated higher. The low tenure, along with low rate change, results in low gains. 

Second, reduced rates will mean lower interest income in the future, so the overall return may be lesser than that being currently offered by these funds. The funds that have enhanced their tenures in anticipation of a drop in rates may be under-performing their peers, but if the prediction about the short-term interest rate plays out as expected, they may gain the most. Tactical rebalancing is about taking a risk by positioning your portfolio based on a particular view, rather than waiting for performance numbers to play out.