BIG DATA

New computer company Convey Computer Corporation today announced that industry notable and company co-founder Steven Wallach will be awarded the prestigious Seymour Cray Computer Science and Engineering Award. Established in 1998 by the IEEE Computer Society Board of Governors, the Seymour Cray Award is given each year to individuals whose innovative contributions to high-performance computing systems best exemplify the creative spirit demonstrated by the late Seymour Cray. The award includes a crystal model, certificate, and honorarium of $10,000. Wallach will accept the award on November 20 at 1:30 p.m. at Supercomputing 2008, the annual high-performance computing conference, to be held November 15-21 in Austin, Texas. In addition he will give a plenary presentation on Wednesday, November 19th at 1:30 at the conference. Additional details are available at its Web site. Wallach is specifically named for his "contribution to high-performance computing through design of innovative vector and parallel computing systems, notably the Convex mini-supercomputer series, a distinguished industrial career and acts of public service." "This is one of our industry's greatest honors and I am deeply honored," said Steven Wallach, Chief Scientist for Convey Computer Corporation. "At Convex Computer Corp., and now at Convey we are showing that you can have a highly productive software environment coupled with high performance computing. I have always believed that the machine that is simplest to program will ultimately win." Previous recipients of the Seymour Cray Award include John Cocke, Glen Culler, John L. Hennessy, Monty Denneau, Burton J. Smith, William J. Dally, Steven L. Scott, Tadashi Watanabe and Ken Batcher. Wallach is a founder of Convey Computer Corp. and is an adviser to venture capital firms CenterPoint Ventures, Sevin-Rosen and InterWest Partners. He is also a consultant to the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Simulation and Computing Program at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Previously he was vice president of technology for Chiaro Networks Ltd. and was co-founder of Convex Computer Corp., its chief technology officer and senior vice president of development. After Hewlett-Packard Co. bought Convex, Wallach became the chief technology officer of HP's Enterprise Systems Group. He was also a visiting professor at Rice University in 1998 and 1999, and was manager of advanced development for Data General Corp. His efforts on the MV/8000 are chronicled in Tracy Kidder's Pulitzer Prize winner The Soul of a New Machine. Wallach has 33 patents and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, an IEEE Fellow and was a founding member of the Presidential Information Technology Advisory Committee.