Army Research Lab Announces Acquisition of Two New Supercomputers Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock email Two new supercomputers are set to join the Defense Department’s stock of sophisticated machines. The Army Research Laboratory, which houses the Pentagon’s Supercomputing Resource Center, announced the fresh acquisition this week. Among other systems, the new and advanced computers will push the center towards establishing a cumulative capability of more than 23 petaflops of performance. Defense officials anticipate the supercomputers will enter production service in “the mid-fiscal 2021 timeframe,” the lab’s announcement notes. The systems are named Jean and Kay, as an homage to Jean Jennings Bartik and Kathleen “Kay” McNulty Mauchly, who are considered by Defense to be “computing pioneers as part of the original team of programmers of the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer,” or what the release called the world’s first general purpose computer. They’ll follow the center’s Betty system, another that was previously installed and named in honor of Frances Elizabeth “Betty” (Snyder) Holberton, who also served on that early and innovative team of programmers.