IBM has unveiled the world's fastest supercomputer, called Advanced Strategic Computing Initiative White, or ASCI White. The machine is capable of 12.3 trillion calculations per second and will be used by the US Government for virtual testing of nuclear weapons. IBM officials said that the new system could contribute to breakthroughs in financial models, genetic computing and allow a country to monitor national air space with a single machine. The existing 18-hour computing cycles needed to create a global weather model could be reduced to seconds, IBM claimed.