GOVERNMENT

Advanced Cray Hybrid System Will Serve UK's Academic Community: Cray today announced that Cray UK Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cray, has signed contracts with UoE HPCX Ltd. and the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to provide a massively parallel processing (MPP) hybrid supercomputer that will become one of the most powerful computing systems in the world. The multi-year contract, valued at approximately $85 million, includes hardware, maintenance and associated professional services. 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 AMD Opteron-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."