SEATTLE, November 8, 2004--Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. (Nasdaq NM:CRAY) today announced that it has received an order for a Cray XD1™ supercomputer from Germany's renowned Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB). Financial details were not disclosed.
ZIB will use the Cray XD1 system primarily for computational chemistry applications. ZIB will also exploit the system's unique field programmable gate array (FPGA) capabilities to advance the use of reconfigurable computing to accelerate life sciences applications.
"We are expanding our long-term relationship with Cray because we are excited about the Cray XD1 supercomputer's combination of exceptional performance and new innovative features," said Alexander Reinefeld, head of Computer Science. "This system has strong potential for advancing the work of some of our most demanding users."
"We are excited to deepen our partnership again with ZIB, one of the leading institutions for scientific computing. The Cray XD1 platform is purpose-built to meet HPC challenges and is an attractive alternative to clusters assembled from general-purpose business servers," said Ulla Thiel, vice president of Cray Europe. "Customers in many disciplines around the world are now turning to Cray for this high performance solution."
About the Cray XD1 Supercomputer
The Cray XD1 supercomputer features the direct connect processor (DCP) architecture, which removes PCI bottlenecks and memory contention to deliver superior sustained performance. The Cray XD1 has the lowest latency of any current HPC system, with MPI latency of 1.8 microseconds in measured tests conducted using the Ohio State MPI benchmark. The tests show that the Cray XD1 ships messages with four times lower MPI latency than common cluster interconnects such as Infiniband, Quadrics or Myrinet, and 30 times lower than Gigabit Ethernet employed in lowest-cost clusters. The Cray XD1's interconnect delivers twice the throughput of Infiniband for messages up to 1 KB and 60 percent higher throughput for very large messages.
The Linux/Opteron system runs x86 32 and 64-bit codes. Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are available to accelerate applications, and the Active Manager subsystem provides single system command and control and high availability features. A 3VU (5.25") chassis provides 12 compute processors, 58 peak gigaflops, 96 GB/second aggregate switching capacity, 1.8-microsecond MPI interprocessor latency, 84 GB maximum memory and 1.5 TB maximum disk storage. A 12-chassis rack provides 144 compute processors, up to 691 peak gigaflops, 1TB/second aggregate switching capacity, 2 microsecond MPI interprocessor latency, 922 GB/second aggregate memory bandwidth, 1 TB maximum memory and 18 TB maximum disk storage.
About the Zuse Institute Berlin
The Zuse Institute Berlin or ZIB helps to solve crucial problems in science, technology, environment and society, problems that cannot be solved by traditional methods but are accessible to mathematical analysis. Founded in 1984 as a non-university research institute of the State of Berlin, ZIB collaborates closely with universities and scientific institutes in Berlin, and offers access to high-performance computers. ZIB also conducts joint projects in telecommunications, medical sciences, public transportation and logistics, the chemical, electrical, computer, and automotive industries, as well as mechanical engineering.
About Cray Inc.
As the global leader in high performance computing (HPC), Cray provides innovative supercomputing systems that enable scientists and engineers in government, industry and academia to meet both existing and future computational challenges. Building on years of experience in designing, developing, marketing and servicing the world's most advanced supercomputers, Cray offers a comprehensive portfolio of HPC systems that deliver unrivaled sustained performance on a wide range of applications. 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. These include the technical challenges of developing high performance computing systems, reliance on third-party suppliers, the passing of acceptance tests, and the successful porting of application programs to the Cray XD1 and general economic and market conditions. For a discussion of these and other risks, see “Factors That Could Affect Future Results” in Cray's most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC.
Cray is a registered trademark, and Cray XD1 is a trademark, of Cray Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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