Virginia Tech to offer 'Big Macs' to go


Virginia Tech, owners of world's first G5 cluster super computer, the TeraScale Cluster (affectionately known as "Big Mac") is planning to offer "super computing kits." A spokesperson for the university has said (EE Times) that the National Security Agency and Argonne weapons lab have already expressed interest in acquiring the technology.

Currently unofficially ranked as the worlds third-fastest super computer, Big Mac also holds the distinction of being among the lowest cost ($5.2 million for 1,100 nodes encompassing 2,200 processors) and fastest to come online (10 days).

Once university officials have worked out license and patent issues, perhaps the one question still unanswered will be, "Does it come with fries?"

Editor's note: The Virginia Tech cluster and attendant "Big Mac to Go" super computer kit appear to part of a well-thought-out plan. Perhaps, but serendipitous events often appear to be providence rather than luck.

So, is Apple just getting lucky or is this, as I have suggested, just another cog in Apple's well-oiled marketing plan for world domination?