In addition to providing enormous cloud-based processing power, the service will automatically determine what resources are needed to complete the computing task and link those resources together, adding and dropping processing power as needed in the middle of the task and then disconnecting when it is completed.

HOW TO:

This turns traditional use of supercomputing upside down, says Prof. Manish Parashar, of the department of electrical and computer engineering at Rutgers University. Until now, users would have to adapt their tasks to the particular supercomputer they had available and accept limitations, such as how long it would take to complete a task.

With supercomputing as a service, users state their task and software intelligence determines how much computing power they need and then goes out and assembles it virtually.

The technology is so automated that a simple custom application on an iPad can input the task along with key parameters such as the level of accuracy required and time constraints. The cloud infrastructure then compiles the needed resources and kicks off the calculations.