The first phase of the TeraGrid, a high-speed network linking the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center's LeMieux computer and other U.S. supercomputers, is now in production mode and capable of computations of up to 4.5 trillion calculations per second, or 4.5 "teraflops" in computerese.

Linked by the fastest research network on the planet, the far-flung computers of the TeraGrid are able to work as one, enabling researchers to perform computations too intensive for any single computer in the network. A second phase is expected to add another 11 teraflops of capacity this spring.

A project of the National Science Foundation, the TeraGrid is available for nonclassified research and already has been used to simulate the evolution of the universe, find optimal methods for cleaning up groundwater contamination and simulate complex materials called gyroids, which combine the properties of solids and liquids.