Jordan is among the countries allowed to import computers that can perform up to 28 billion operations per second, according to the latest decision by the US government to loosen restrictions on super computer exports.
Chairman of Jordan’s Information Technology Association (int@j), Karim Kawar, told the Jordan Times that computers of such capabilities can be used to solve complex calculations in scientific research, for visualization and to design three-dimensional models.
Kawar added that the export of such technologies developed in the US was restricted due to the sensitive fields in which they could be used. “Such computers could be used for operating and monitoring nuclear facilities, in addition to their uses in defense fields, such as operating plane simulators, and breaking complex intelligence codes and passwords, which would take years to break on slower machines,” Kawar said.
A computer that can perform 28 billion operations per second, is 28 times faster than the Pentium 3, 1000 Mega-Hertz, the most powerful personal computer available on the Jordanian market, which according to the official Intel website, can achieve the speed of more that one billion operations per second.
Kawar said that powerful computers, using Pentium 3 multi-processors — up to 16 processor or more — working together in one computer, are used as servers for hosting large Internet sites like Yahoo and Hotmail. He said that these computers could be assembled locally if needed.
The US decision removed all restrictions on the exports of super computers to Western Europe, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Hungary, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Argentina.
While export to the countries of Latin America, South Korea, and the countries of Southeast Asia were restricted to machines with the speed of 45 billion operations per second. Middle Eastern countries, including Jordan, India, Pakistan, Morocco, former Soviet Union countries, China, and Central Europe were restricted to machines with the speed of 28 billion operations per second.
The decision kept the export of such technologies completely restricted to Syria, Sudan, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and Cuba. ― (Jordan Times)
By Yacoub Abu Ghosh
