SEATTLE, WA, Nov 12, 2009 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. (NASDAQ: CRAY) today announced
the reinvention of the workstation for the next era of technical
computing with the launch of the Cray CX1-iWS(TM) system, which
combines a powerful Microsoft Windows 7 workstation with a fully
integrated high-performance computing (HPC) cluster running Microsoft
Windows HPC Server 2008. With a list price beginning at under $40,000
and sold exclusively through Dell, the Cray CX1-iWS product meets a
market need for a new generation of workstation.
The Cray CX1-iWS system -- the "iWS" stands for "integrated
workstation" -- combines the interactivity of a workstation with the
scale-out performance of a cluster conveniently packaged in a
deskside form factor. Users can enjoy a highly responsive and
interactive workstation environment (with eight cores of Intel(R)
Xeon(R) processors) while initiating distributed jobs leveraging the
integrated cluster resource with an additional 24 cores of Intel Xeon
processing power. In total, 32 cores are available to the user or
workgroup. The Cray CX1-iWS product aims to substantially boost
productivity for engineers, scientists and researchers continually
challenged with complex problems and little time to solve them.
"The Cray CX1-iWS puts the 'work' back in workstation by delivering a
powerhouse of functionality to the workstation user or workgroup. The
integration of workstation and cluster in one unit, with shared
storage between them, means that users can easily move their jobs from
the workstation to the cluster side of the box without moving their
data or leaving the familiar Microsoft operating system environment,"
said Ian Miller, senior vice president of the productivity solutions
group and marketing at Cray. "With this new product, Cray expects to
provide HPC capability to a wide new audience that includes R&D
groups in small and medium-size businesses, organizations needing to
solve problems beyond the limits of traditional workstations, and
people wanting to implement distributed HPC in the enterprise."
"Combining Windows 7 and Windows HPC Server 2008 in a single,
integrated workstation experience will deliver HPC capabilities to a
new customer base that sees value in the ease-of-use of the Windows 7
operating system paired with the compute capability of a powerful
cluster resource," said Vince Mendillo, senior director of high
performance computing at Microsoft. "The Cray CX1-iWS system is one
of the most powerful Windows workstations ever, and a must-have for
those looking to realize the benefits of HPC."
"This solution will help bring HPC to an even wider community of
scientists and researchers outside the walls of marquee labs and
universities," said Frank Muehleman, vice president and manager of
Dell's North American public-sector business. "Working with partners
like Microsoft and Cray, we continue to enable customers to tackle
some of society's biggest challenges using industry-standard
technologies."
Each Cray CX1-iWS system comes with one dual-socket visualization
workstation, a three node compute cluster, storage and a 16-port
Gigabit Ethernet switch. The workstation node features an NVIDIA(R)
Quadro(R) graphics card that can support two high-definition monitors
for visualization. It will ship exclusively with Windows 7 and Windows
HPC Server 2008.
Three standard Cray CX1-iWS system configurations are available, all
based on the Intel Xeon Processor 5500 series. The midrange and
advanced configurations add more cluster nodes, memory and storage.
The advanced configuration includes eight 2.93 GHz Intel Xeon Series
5500 processors with 24GB of memory (6x 4GB DIMMS) per node, 160GB of
disk per node, 4TB of storage, the 16-port Gigabit Ethernet switch
and an NVIDIA Quadro FX 5800 graphics card.
The CRAY CX1-iWS system is the newest entry in the Cray CX(TM)
product series and joins the Cray CX1-LC(TM) product, which was
launched in July 2009. Introduced in September 2008, the successful
Cray CX1(TM) deskside supercomputer is designed from the ground up to
provide superior performance, functionality and cost for individuals
and departmental workgroups who want to harness an HPC cluster.
Equipped with state-of-the-art visualization and storage
capabilities, the Cray CX1 supercomputer delivers performance
leadership across a broad range of applications, all in a compact,
deskside system.
About Cray Inc.
As a global leader in supercomputing, Cray provides highly advanced
supercomputers and world-class services and support to government,
industry and academia. Cray technology is designed to enable
scientists and engineers to achieve remarkable breakthroughs by
accelerating performance, improving efficiency and extending the
capabilities of their most demanding applications. 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 www.cray.com for more information.
Safe Harbor Statement
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 expand its addressable
HPC market. 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 Cray
is not able to expand and penetrate its addressable market as
expected or at all and such other risks as identified in the
Company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended
September 30, 2009, 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, and Cray CX1-iWS, Cray CX, Cray
CX1-LC and Cray CX1 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
pr@cray.com
Cray Investors:
Paul Hiemstra
206/701-2044
ir@cray.com
SOURCE: Cray Inc.
mailto:pr@cray.com
mailto:ir@cray.com