POWER3 microprocessor can perform up to two billion operations per second.

Monday unveiled a more powerful supercomputer that is part of IBM_s plan to extend the use of what it calls "Deep Computing" by business users. The new supercomputer is an example of IBM_s effort to commercialize Deep Computing, which is the capacity to tie together unprecedented computer processing power and advanced software and algorithms to solve complex problems and derive meaning from vast mountains of data. "The Internet revolution is creating unprecedented quantities of data. The SP excels at helping people turn that data into valuable information," said R. Adkins, general manager, RS/6000. IBM_s next-generation RS/6000 SP supercomputer system contains the POWER3 microprocessor, the direct successor to the POWER2 Super Chip inside "Deep Blue," known for its chess victory over world chess champion G. Kasparov in 1997. IBM said the POWER3 microprocessor can perform up to two billion operations per second and is more than twice as powerful as IBM_s preceding RS/6000 machine. The POWER3 chip is aimed at applications such as computer analysis and simulation programs used by aerospace, automobile and drug manufacturers, the company said. The SP is a scalable system made up of building blocks called nodes, which can function alone or work with hundreds of other nodes. The system allows researchers to throw massive amounts of data-processing capacity at single tasks, or divide the processing power to handle a range of less intensive work.