What's next in supercomputing?

ComputerWorld (Nov. 19) -- Supercomputing users are relentless in their pursuit of compute power so they can run simulations of increasing complexity and scale to tackle mankind's truly big problems. Today, supercomputing relies on architectural changes, such as adding speedy GPUs, to boost performance. Researchers may increasingly turn to chips that integrate interconnects and memory to speed processing and reduce energy. "We have reached the end of the technological era," said William Gropp, chairman of the SC13 conference and a computer science professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.