Amazon builds virtual supercomputer

BANGALORE, INDIA: Cloud computing-based retail major Amazon has built a virtual supercomputer atop its Elastic Compute Cloud and this cloud-based computing can be availed at $1,279/hour, says a report on The Wired.

Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud is a web service that spins up virtual servers as and when it is required.

Also Read: Amazon beats Microsoft in cloud stress test

"Amazon's virtual super computer is capable of running 240 trillion calculations per second, or 240 teraflops on 17,000 cores, says a report on CNET.

And at this speed it overtakes Fujitsu's K Computer, 'which hit 10 petaflops in November 2011, equating to 10 quadrillion calculations a second', adds the report.