The U.S. Department of Defense has paid $18 million for an IBM RS/6000 SP code-named "Blue Wave." The world's fourth-fastest super computer, it can process two trillion calculations per second and will be used by the U.S. Navy to model the world's oceans and improve maritime storm forecasting. IBM is the leading seller of supercomputers with about 30 percent of the market, estimated to total approximately 250 computers ranging from $2 million to over $100 million annually. Meanwhile, Compaq has been chosen to build and operate a $36 million computer for the U.S. National Science Foundation. It will use 2,728 processors to perform more than 6 trillion operations per second in research applications that include severe weather forecasting as well as drug simulations and earthquake prediction.

For more on the Navy supercomputer, read news.com or zdnn.com. Information about the Compaq supercomputer can be found at dailynews.yahoo.com.