IT is three times more powerful and half the size of the last model, but measuring the size of 30 household wardrobes, it will be some time before supercomputers like Archer reach handheld-device sized proportions.
The new generation technological marvel that is capable of more than one million billion calculations a second is to be launched today at Edinburgh University.
It will be the most powerful in the UK and will be used to help scientists, doctors, economists, designers and ecologists in research that could have an impact on people's everyday lives.
The £43 million Archer (Academic Research Computing High End Resource) replaces the £60 million Hector (High-End Computing Terascale Resource)which is being upgraded after six years.
Archer will help predict climate change at one end of the scale and design more eco-friendly aircraft at the other while allowing work on developing new medicines that could never before be done.
It carries on from Hector in trying to solve problems such finding the safest and most profitable investment strategies for pension funds and modelling the electrical activity of the heart to understand how best to intervene during heart attacks.
The sheer power of the computer means it can create intricate models of scenarios with wide-ranging varying factors.
Dr Alan Simpson has been at the forefront of the Edinburgh University programme for 25 years. He said the future with the latest supercomputer is "hugely exciting". He added: "It is one of the most useful general purpose computers in the world."
The university said its magnitude and design will enable scientists to tackle problems on a scale that was "previously thought impossible".
The system, at the university's Advanced Computing Facility at Easter Bush, has up to three and a half times the speed of Hector.
It has twin rows of sleek black cabinets, and only about half Hector's 70.
The university said system brings together the UK's most powerful computer with one of its largest data centres.
This creates the ability to support so-called Big Data applications, identified by the UK Government as one of its "Eight Great Technologies" for future research.
The building housing the Archer system is said to be among the greenest computer centres in the world, with cooling costs of only eight pence for every pound spent on power.
Archer was made by US computing experts Cray and is funded and owned by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
Professor Sir Timothy O'Shea, Principal of the University of Edinburgh, said: "The University of Edinburgh has for many decades been a pioneer in High Performance Computing.
"Now that Big Data is reaching into an even greater range of areas we are delighted to have the Archer facility and its support at Edinburgh.
"Together with the UK Research Data Facility, we and the Research Councils have a facility unique in the UK, combining some of the world's most powerful computers with a vast datastore and analysis facilities. We will work with the Research Councils and UK researchers to generate world-leading research and business impact."
Professor David Delpy, of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, said: "We are proud to unveil this new Archer service.
"It will enable researchers to continue to be at the forefront of computational science and make significant contributions in the use of Big Data to improve understanding across many fields."
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