By: TOP500 Team
The semi-annual HPC "500 list" time and its attendant fall iron horse racing season are upon us. Thanks to the hard work of the list keepers, we currently enjoy three major ones to review, compare and contrast: TOP500, Green500 and Graph 500. Each focuses on a distinct aspect of HPC – number crunching, energy efficiency, and data crunching, respectively – and together they allow us to construct our own type of Triple Crown. Since new race results were recently announced, let's take a look at the current standings.
In racing with real horses, a Triple Crown consists of a series of three races for three-year-old thoroughbred horses. Winning all three of these races is considered to be the greatest accomplishment of a horse's career. Various nations, where thoroughbred racing is popular, each have their own Triple Crown series. Since HPC is a global sport, we enjoy the simplicity of only having one Triple Crown: our three 500 lists – the TOP, Green and Graph 500s. How do our HPC iron horses do in competing to win this Triple Crown? Let's review the past year's races and then look at the Fall 2012 competition.