The supercomputer, named ‘Param Kanchenjunga’, was formally unveiled by Sikkim Governor Shrinvas Patil at the NIT Sikkim campus at Ravangla in South Sikkim District. The National Institute of Technology (NIT) Sikkim has clinched a rare distinction of having a supercomputer, which is said to be the most powerful and fastest among all the 31 NITs.

Pune-based, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing ‘C-DAC’ and the NIT Sikkim have jointly established the supercomputer at a cost of Rs. Three crore. The supercomputer is expected to help achieve excellence in engineering education and research in the north-east region.

What is a Super Computer?

• A supercomputer is a computer with a high-level computational capacity compared to a general-purpose computer.
• Supercomputers play an important role in the field of computational science, and are used for a wide range of computationally intensive tasks in various fields, including quantum mechanics, weather forecasting, climate research, oil and gas exploration etc.

What is Param?

• Param means “supreme” in Sanskrit. It is a series of supercomputers designed and assembled by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CTDAC) in Pune, India.
• The earlier machine in the series was Param Yuva II was unveiled on February 2013.
• Param Yuva II used for research in space, bioinformatics, weather forecasting, seismic data analysis, aeronautical engineering, scientific data processing and pharmaceutical development. This computer is a stepping stone towards building the future petaflop-range supercomputers in India.