ENGINEERING

The Maui High Performance Computing Center (MHPCC), a U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate facility, has chosen a Cray XD1 supercomputer to increase the center's capabilities in space surveillance and image processing, according to global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. This marks the first time MHPCC has acquired a supercomputing system from Cray. This order is part of a multi-order award with an aggregate value of over $23 million that Cray has received from the Department of Defense (DoD) High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP). A Cray XD1 system with 288 AMD Opteron processors and peak performance of about 1.4 trillion calculations per second (teraflops) will soon begin to advance the work of the Maui Space Surveillance Site (MSSS). Located at the summit of Haleakala on the island of Maui, this unique site can gather data on near and deep space objects at night or in daylight. "The Cray XD1 supercomputer is ideally suited for handling the vast quantities of data and analysis driven by our space surveillance activities," said Major Kevin Benedict, Director of MHPCC, "We look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship with the new Cray Inc." The MSSS combines operational satellite tracking facilities with research and development projects. For more information about MSSS, go to http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/systems/msss.htm. "We are honored to have the MHPCC become a Cray customer for the first time in the history of their supercomputing center. Using our innovative Cray XD1 system for the important Space Situation Awareness mission of the Maui Space Surveillance Site is also an important new application for us," said Peter Ungaro, Cray senior vice president of sales, marketing and service. "This will be the largest Cray XD1 system in the world, so we are very excited to scale it to higher and higher levels of performance and capability and are looking forward to continue to push the technology even further."