Mainframes and Supercomputers - News, Features, and Slideshows

The Department of Defence has finalised a $31 million contract to ramp its mainframe capacity over the next eight years and build a more robust technology infrastructure.

IBM's Watson supercomputer is about to begun work evaluating evidence-based cancer treatment options that can be delivered to the physician in a matter of seconds for assessment.

The SC11 supercomputing conference in Seattle last month saw an almost obsessive focus on the development of an exascale computing system -- one that would be roughly 1,000 times more powerful than any existing system -- <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9221883/Exascale_computing_seen_in_this_decade">before the end of the decade</a> .

There is a worldwide race to build the next generation of supercomputers, but U.S. efforts have stalled.

IBM mainframes will soon be able to manage Windows applications, bridging one of the last major divides in data centers.

Kristine Harper and her father, Tom, both work on mainframe computers. BOSTON - Kristine Harper was about 12-years-old when her father took her to his office to take part of a "take your daughter to work day." Tom Harper said his daughter was less than enthusiastic about his profession that day.