Data Backup Digest

You've unlikely heard of the coronavirus by now. Between sweeping school closures, work cancellations, and the postponement of nearly all live entertainment across the globe, almost every one of us has been affected in some way. Thankfully, however, there are some bright minds working on a cure – and they're being supported by some of the most powerful and sophisticated computers in the world.

Assembling 16 Supercomputers

We have access to some pretty powerful machines in the 21st century. Between the government, academia, and the IT industry itself, the United States is in a unique position to head up the fight against the coronavirus and the race for a cure – and the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium might be the solution we've been looking for.

Comprising nearly 20 separate entities, the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium combines the computational power of no less than 16 supercomputers to research the new disease. Current projects include predicting and tracking spread of the coronavirus and even modeling potential medicines and immunizations.

Dario Gil, director of IBM research with the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium, was recently quoted as saying: "By pooling the supercomputing capacity under a consortium of partners ... we can offer extraordinary supercomputing power to scientists, medical researchers and government agencies as they respond to and mitigate this global emergency."

While IBM is leading the charge, they're not the only ones involved in tackling the coronavirus once and for all. As mentioned earlier, there are nearly 20 different entities, including resources within the U.S. government, academia, and the IT industry, who are all involved in the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium. This includes:

• IBM
• Amazon Web Services
• Google Cloud
• Microsoft
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise
• NASA
• National Science Foundation
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• Argonne National Laboratory
• Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center
• Texas Advanced Computing Center at the University of Texas at Austin
• and many more

In fact, IBM's Summit machine, recognized as the fastest supercomputer in use today, is already being used to screen different chemical compounds in the search for a solution to the coronavirus. Researchers at Oak Ridge National Lab as well as the University of Tennessee have already designated 77 drug compounds for further research and testing.

The Lassen supercomputer, located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, is also being used for the project. It boasts nearly 35,000 IBM Power9 processor cores along with more than 3,000 Nvidia graphics cards.

As you can see, it's a highly concentrated effort that involves some of the brightest minds and the most powerful hardware in the 21st century. In fact, independent researchers are invited to submit their own research proposals surrounding the coronavirus via the consortium's official website.

For more information on the latest efforts from the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium, or to join in the battle against the coronavirus and submit your own research ideas, please visit their official website at {{https://www.ibm.com/covid19/hpc-consortium/|www.ibm.com/covid19/hpc-consortium/}}.