Hormel Institute buys Minnesota-made supercomputer

Rochester, Minn. — The University of Minnesota' Hormel Institute is a cancer research laboratory. Right now researchers are studying skin and breast cancer. The organization bought a Blue Gene supercomputer from IBM to speed up its research.

IBM's Mike Good says it's the fastest computer in the world.

"The system is capable of handling about five and a half to six trillion operations a second. I won't even go into how fast that is, but it's a lot of zeros after the 5.6," says Good.

Zigang Dong, the executive director of the institute, says the computer will help the research center triple its projects and improve its research on cancer.

"You use other methods for the research, it will take years. But with this technology it will only take a few days," says Dong. "It will incredibly accelerate our research capabilities."

Dong says the center will add 100 more researchers to utilize the computer. Research will focus on prevention and treatment of all types of cancer.

The purchase is part of a facility expansion. The cost of the computer wasn't disclosed.

Twenty of the world's leading research institutions, including Harvard and Princeton universities, also use the Blue Gene supercomputer.