Param Pravega

2022 MAR 4

Preliminary   > Science and Technology   >   IT & Computers   >   IT & Computers

Why in news?

  • The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has installed and commissioned Param Pravega, one of the most powerful supercomputers in India, and the largest in an Indian academic institution under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM).

About Param Pravega:

  • The system, which is expected to power diverse research and educational pursuits, has a total supercomputing capacity of 3.3 petaflops (1 petaflop equals a quadrillion or 1015 operations per second).

Developed by:

  • It has been designed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC).
  • A majority of the components used to build this system have been manufactured and assembled within the country, along with an indigenous software stack developed by C-DAC, in line with the Make in India initiative.

What is the National Supercomputing Mission?

  • It was launched in 2015 to enhance the research capacities and capabilities in the country by connecting them to form a Supercomputing grid, with National Knowledge Network (NKN) as the backbone.
    • The NKN project is aimed at establishing a strong and robust Indian network which will be capable of providing secure and reliable connectivity.
  • It supports the government's vision of 'Digital India' and 'Make in India' initiatives.
  • The Mission is being jointly steered by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
  • It is implemented by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Pune, and the IISc, Bengaluru.

Add ons:

  • India’s first supercomputer was PARAM 8000.
  • PARAM Shivay was the first supercomputer assembled indigenously. It was followed by PARAM Shakti, PARAM Brahma, PARAM Yukti, PARAM Sanganak.
  • In 2020, PARAM Siddhi achieved global ranking of 62nd in Top 500 most powerful supercomputer systems in the world.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

The terms ‘Param Pravega’ and ‘Param Siddhi’, sometimes seen in  news, is associated with:

(a) Supercomputers built in India

(b) Indigenously built aircraft carrier

(c) Cryptocurrencies developed for use in India

(d) None of the above

Answer