Question

What is the significance of the supercomputer 'Param'?

Answer 1

Hint: Param is the first supercomputer series designed and developed by India. It is widely used for performing tasks that require highly efficient computational powers. A prototype benchmarked at the Zurich Supercomputing Show (1990) recognized that India had the second most powerful and publicly-demonstrated supercomputer in the world after the United States.

Complete answer:
Param is a series of supercomputers successfully designed, developed, and assembled by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) in Pune, India. In the Sanskrit language, Param means ‘the supreme’. It also creates an acronym for "PARAllel Machine". As of now June 2020, the latest machine in the series is the PARAM Brahma. The Param series consists of 10 supercomputers now, as of June 2020.
The Param series consists of 10 supercomputers till now, as of June 2020.
They are:
1. PARAM 8000
2. PARAM 8600
3. PARAM 9000
4. PARAM 10000
5. PARAM Padma
6. PARAM Yuva
7. Param Yuva II
8. PARAM ISHAN
9. PARAM Brahma 2
The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing Technology (C-DACT) was first created in the month of November 1987, in response to the issues of purchasing supercomputers from foreign sources. The Indian Government decided to give a try to develop indigenous computing technology of its own. Param 8000 The Param 8600 was the first machine in the series that was completely built from scratch. A prototype benchmarked at the Zurich Supercomputing Show (1990) recognized that India had the second most powerful and publicly-demonstrated supercomputer in the world after the United States.
PARAM Series supercomputers are used to perform several specific scientific and engineering applications. For e.g:
1. PARAM 10000 is used for the design and development of day to day weather and climate monitoring. It is installed at the National Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) for weather forecasting. CDAC is also developing a technology to be ported on the Param series of parallel computers which will provide a solution to the long-range area weather modeling.
2. Param series supercomputers are used for seismic data modeling. It requires modeling algorithms. The same algorithms are used by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd. (ONGC) for the processing of oil exploration data sets.
3. Param 8000 was used for fluid mechanics and structural analysis. Later versions of PARAM are used for designing modern aerodynamic vehicles.
4. Param is used to perform the works that require very high computing performance, such as materials and molecular modeling.

Note: The Param series consists of 10 supercomputers till now, as of June 2020. They are PARAM 8000, PARAM 8600, PARAM 9000, PARAM 10000, PARAM Padma, PARAM Yuva, PARAM Yuva II, PARAM Ishan, PARAM Kanchenjunga, and PARAM Brahma 2.