Zettaflop

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What Does Zettaflop Mean?

A zettaflop (ZFlop) is a unit of measurement for computer processing power. It refers to the floating point operations per second (FLOPS) capacity of a processor, where one ZFlop represents 1021 FLOPS.

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Techopedia Explains Zettaflop

Zettaflop is a theoretical processing speed that some believe may be achieved by supercomputers. Currently, there is not a single computer/processor that can do a ZFlop calculation, but the belief in its future existence is based on Moore’s Law. If this law holds true, a computer with this level of processing power should exist by 2030.

Computer design professionals and analysts believe that to reach zettaflop computation in computers/processors, on-chip photonic communication and memristor memory techniques must be implemented within their design. Moreover, to operate, zettaflop processors/computers will require approximately 400 watts of power.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology Expert

Margaret is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.