UK fastest supercomputer

The BBC has just announced that the HPCx machine, based in Warrington, is now capable of operating at speeds up to 15.4 teraflops, or 15.4 trillion calculations every second. However, HPCx typically runs at around 12 teraflops.
More than 1,200 processors have been added to the four year-old, IBM-built computer.
Scientists use this supercomputer to simulate everything from ocean currents to biological cells. The upgrade will allow scientists to run more complex models on the machine.
When HPCx first came into service in 2002 it was one of the top 10 fastest supercomputers in the world. Despite an upgrade in 2004, it has since slipped to 59th place in the Top 500 supercomputers list.

The top 5 supercomputers are:
-Blue Gene/L, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California. (131,072 processors)
-BGW Blue Gene, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, New York (40,960 processors)
-ASC Purple, Department of Energy, USA (12,208 processors)
-Columbia, Nasa Ames Research Center, USA (10,160 processors)
-Tera-10, Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique (CEA), France (8,704 processors)


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1. How fast is that supercomputer?
2. What has made it faster?
3. What does HPCX allow scientists to do?