IBM Supercomputer to analyze Staples sales

IBM Corp. has announced the sale of an RS6000 SP supercomputer to office-supply retailer Staples Inc. to help identify market trends and better control just-in-time inventory processes. The system has 16 sections, or nodes capable of handling a database of 4 trillion Bytes. The machine, selling for "several million dollars," is small compared to the larger supercomputers dedicated to scientific research, but it is represents an early implementation of the sort of analytical abilities that will be commonplace for businesses as computers evolve.

Read the source article at bloomberg.com.