SEATTLE, WA and READING, UK — (Marketwired) — 06/26/13 — Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. (NASDAQ: CRAY) today announced the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), one of the world-s premier numerical weather prediction and research centers, selected a Cray XC30 supercomputer and Cray Sonexion storage for their next operational facility. The new Cray system will improve ECMWF-s forecasting capabilities through increased resolution and model enhancements, as well as support ECMWF-s research program.
ECMWF is focused on the development and operation of global models and data-assimilation systems for the dynamics, thermodynamics, and composition of the Earth and its surrounding systems. An independent intergovernmental organization supported by 34 European nations, the center provides operational, extended-range, and seasonal global forecasts 365 days a year, as well as specialized research such as wave forecasts and global atmospheric composition.
“I am looking forward to working with Cray to enable us to continue improving the skill of our weather predictions. The Cray system will be a strong foundation to meet our strategic, operational and research objectives,” said ECMWF Director-General, Professor Alan Thorpe. “ECMWF-s history of using supercomputers dates back to 1979 when the Centre issued its first operational medium-range weather forecast. Our European member states will all continue to benefit from the ground-breaking weather research we can provide on this new system.”
“ECMWF is one of the premier weather organizations in the world and we are thrilled to start a long and close partnership with the Centre,” said Dr. Ulla Thiel, Cray vice president, Europe. “It is also an exciting message to the earth sciences community that ECMWF has selected Cray technology. Cray-s leading edge products, support and services will strongly support ECMWF-s mandate to reliably deliver superior meteorological forecasting products and research.”
The Cray multi-petaflops supercomputing infrastructure at ECMWF is designed for operational resiliency featuring two Cray XC30 systems and a multi-petabyte Cray Sonexion storage system. The Sonexion system is a fully integrated, scale-out Lustre system designed for a broad range of big data and high performance computing (HPC) workloads. It offers compact design for maximum density and can reduce the storage footprint by 50 percent for petascale systems.
Previously code-named “Cascade,” the Cray XC30 supercomputer is Cray-s most advanced HPC system and is engineered to meet the most demanding performance challenges of HPC users. The Cray XC30 supercomputer features the Aries system interconnect; a Dragonfly network topology that frees applications from locality constraints; an innovative cooling system that utilizes a transverse airflow to lower customers- total cost of ownership; the next-generation of the scalable, high performance Cray Linux Environment that also supports a wide range of ISV applications; Cray-s HPC optimized programming environment; and the ability to handle a wide variety of processor types, including Intel® Xeon® processors, Intel® Xeon Phi coprocessors, and NVIDIA® Tesla® GPU accelerators.
Consisting of products and multi-year services, the contract is valued at more than $65 million in total revenue and the system is expected to be put into production in 2014. The contract includes options for future upgrades and future technologies.
Additional information on the and can be found on the Cray website.
ECMWF is an intergovernmental organisation supported by 34 European States. It provides weather services with medium-range forecasts of global weather to 15 days ahead as well as with monthly and seasonal forecasts. ECMWF-s computer system at its headquarters in Reading, United Kingdom, is one of the largest for meteorology worldwide and contains the world-s largest archive of numerical weather prediction data. It runs a sophisticated medium-range prediction model of the global atmosphere and oceans. The National Meteorological Services of Member States and Co-operating States use ECMWF-s products for their own national duties, in particular to give early warning of potentially damaging severe weather.
Global supercomputing leader Cray Inc. (NASDAQ: CRAY) provides innovative systems and solutions enabling scientists and engineers in industry, academia and government to meet existing and future simulation and analytics challenges. Leveraging 40 years of experience in developing and servicing the world-s most advanced supercomputers, Cray offers a comprehensive portfolio of supercomputers and Big Data solutions delivering unrivaled performance, efficiency and scalability. Cray-s Adaptive Supercomputing vision is focused on delivering innovative next-generation products that integrate diverse processing technologies into a unified architecture, allowing customers to surpass today-s limitations and meeting the market-s continued demand for realized performance. Go to for more information.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, including, but not limited to, statements related to Cray-s ability to deliver the system required by ECMWF when required and that meets ECMWF-s needs. These statements involve current expectations, forecasts of future events and other statements that are not historical facts. Inaccurate assumptions and known and unknown risks and uncertainties can affect the accuracy of forward-looking statements and cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements. Factors that could affect actual future events or results include, but are not limited to, the risk that the system required by ECMWF is not delivered in a timely fashion or does not perform as expected and such other risks as identified in the Company-s quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2013, and from time to time in other reports filed by Cray with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not rely unduly on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this release. Cray undertakes no duty to publicly announce or report revisions to these statements as new information becomes available that may change the Company-s expectations.
Cray is a registered trademark of Cray Inc. in the United States and other countries, and Cray XC30 and Sonexion are trademarks of Cray Inc. Other product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
Cray Media:
Nick Davis
206/701-2123
Cray Investors:
Paul Hiemstra
206/701-2044
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