We may not get to use supercomputers, but they are still cool to hear about. Every year, the list of the world's most powerful supercomputers and what they run is compiled. For 2007, to no one's surprise, IBM reigns in as the champ of processing power once again with the BlueGene/L system, which has been number one for three years in a row. Of the top 10 of the most powerful machines in the world, IBM has 4 of the slots, alongside HP, Cray and SGI. IBM netted a total of 232 of the highest power systems, with HP a close second at 166.
The software and hardware the systems ran on is interesting as well, with Intel's processors composing nearly two-thirds of the 500 machines and AMD coming in under 20%. Of course, Linux was the operating system of choice for nearly everybody involved as it was found on 85% of the systems. That's considerable market share for sure. It really is some interesting stuff, particularly how fast the overall amount of performance has increased, with the BlueGene/L capable of 478.2 teraflops. You can read about the systems at the top500 site.