The Cray system is the centerpiece in EPSRC's High End Computing Terascale Resources (HECToR) project, one of the largest and most ambitious high performance computing (HPC) initiatives in Europe. The new supercomputer will be installed at the University of Edinburgh's Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC) in Edinburgh, Scotland, in stages over the next two years. It will serve a broad community of academic users across the UK.

"EPSRC, working with other UK Research Councils, strives to make the UK the most dynamic and stimulating environment in the world for research and innovation -- and that means providing our researchers with the most advanced computational tools available," said Dr. Randal Richards, EPSRC Interim Chief Executive. "The world-class HECToR project will give UK scientists the means to conduct breakthrough research in a broad range of disciplines. Our partnership with Cray will help researchers stay at the forefront of their fields as they continue to address the pressing needs of society and industry."

The Cray supercomputer will be the first hybrid computer that is based on mature, proven technology. It will consist of Cray's XT4(TM) AMD Opteron(TM)-based MPP system enhanced with a tightly integrated next-generation Cray vector system code-named "BlackWidow." The design leverages Cray's Adaptive Supercomputing vision, which incorporates proven supercomputing processor technologies into a single hybrid system. The contract also includes a next-generation Cray MPP system, code-named "Baker," to be installed in 2009 that will further boost sustained application performance.

"We are honored that EPSRC chose Cray to be its partner for the HECToR project, further supporting the Cray XT4 supercomputer's prominent position among the world's most powerful research computers," said Peter Ungaro, Cray's president and CEO. "This initiative will serve as an excellent showcase for Cray's most advanced hybrid computing concepts, bringing to bear the capabilities of Adaptive Supercomputing to address the demanding needs of leading-edge scientific research."

"The HECToR award is a huge success for our organization," said Ulla Thiel, Cray Vice President Europe. "We are very excited about winning the largest HPC procurement in Europe, and this clearly highlights Cray's rapidly increasing presence in the European HPC community."

About Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre and UoE HPCX Ltd.

UoE HPCX Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh. With the signing of the HECToR agreement it holds the contracts to provide both the UK's national supercomputer services for academia. Its success is based on that of Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC) -- a computational science research and technology transfer institute within the University. Founded in 1990, EPCC's mission is to accelerate the effective exploitation of novel computing solutions throughout academia, industry and commerce. Today, EPCC is the leading computational science technology transfer centre in Europe. Go to www.epcc.ed.ac.uk for more information.

About EPSRC

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is the UK's main agency for funding research in engineering and the physical sciences. EPSRC is investing GBP 650 million this year in research and postgraduate training to help the nation handle the next generation of technological change. The areas covered range from information technology to structural engineering, and mathematics to materials science. This research forms the basis for future economic development in the UK and improvements for everyone's health, lifestyle and culture. EPSRC also actively promotes public awareness of science and engineering. EPSRC works alongside other Research Councils with responsibility for other areas of research. The Research Councils work collectively on issues of common concern via Research Councils UK. Go to www.epsrc.ac.uk/ for more information.

About the Cray XT4 Supercomputer

The Cray XT4 supercomputer is designed to efficiently scale to a peak performance of more than one petaflop (1,000 trillion floating-point operations per second). The system is equipped with dual-core processors that can be easily upgraded to AMD's Quad Core Opteron technology in the future. Unlike typical cluster architectures, in which many microprocessors share one communications interface, each AMD Opteron processor in the Cray XT4 system is coupled with its own interconnect chip. Providing six links in three dimensions, the unique Cray SeaStar2(TM) chip uses its embedded routing capability to take advantage of HyperTransport(TM) technology and significantly accelerate communications among the processors. Go to www.cray.com/products/xt4/index.html for more information.

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 enables 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 will result in 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. There are certain factors that could cause Cray's execution plans to differ materially from those anticipated by the statements above. Among these are the technical challenges and risks inherent in developing high performance computing systems, including: potential delays in development projects; Cray's ability to scale the system to the targeted level of performance; reliance on third-party suppliers, including delays in availability of qualified parts from suppliers; timing of and successful porting of application programs to new computing systems; successful passing of acceptance tests; and timing and level of government support for supercomputer purchases and research and development activities. For a discussion of these and other risks, see "Risk Factors" in Cray's most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC.

Cray is a registered trademark, and Cray XT4 and Cray SeaStar2 are trademarks, of Cray Inc. AMD, AMD Opteron and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. HyperTransport is a licensed trademark of the HyperTransport Technology Consortium. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Cray Media:
Melissa Power
401/454-1314
melissa_power@interprosepr.com

Cray Investors:
Vic Chynoweth
206/701-2094
vic@cray.com

SOURCE: Cray Inc.

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