When most academic technologists tackle computing, their time is occupied by laptops and servers--relatively small-scale stuff. A couple of blades here, a couple of blades there. Generally, even for network managers, the processing power rarely stacks up to anything awe-inspiring. Sometimes, however, computing can be bigger and broader than many individuals can imagine, requiring more juice than some small nations use in a year. Then, of course, people find themselves in the 21st-century realm of high-performance computing. High-performance computing efforts at four schools--Indiana University, the University of Florida, the University of Utah, and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (FL)--demonstrate that the latest and greatest in supercomputing on the academic level far exceeds the computing power that most people can conceive. As computing power continues to grow, however, these tales undoubtedly are only the beginning. Descriptions of two systems--Myrinet and Beowulf--are also presented.