Cray gets supercomputer orders worth roughly $30M from DOD

Cray XT5 Supercomputers to Enhance Military Research and Development Efforts: Cray today announced that it has been awarded four of the five high performance computing (HPC) system awards by the Department of Defense (DOD) as part of its 2008 High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) acquisition for large HPC systems. The contract, worth over $30 million including services, is one of the largest ever DOD HPCMP system awards to a single vendor. As part of the contract, Cray will provide four of its innovative and highly scalable Cray XT5 systems to be located at top military research centers including the Army Research Laboratory, Naval Oceanographic Office and the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center. "It's an incredible honor to play such a significant role in helping to ensure the continued strength of the military's research and development efforts," said Peter Ungaro, president and CEO of Cray. "The DOD's HPCMP is one of the longest-standing supercomputing programs in existence, having enabled major materials innovations, higher fidelity computer simulations, more efficient testing and the development of critical weapons systems. We value the opportunity to provide our systems in this capacity and look forward to continuing our partnership with the HPCMP into the future. The scalability, innovation and upgradeability that are uniquely characteristic of the Cray XT5 supercomputers will enable the DOD to continue to achieve the engineering and scientific breakthroughs that will strengthen our national security." The Cray XT5 system is the world's most scalable Linux-based supercomputer combining unprecedented sustained application performance with exceptional manageability, lower cost of ownership and broad application and tools support to large supercomputer class machines. The Cray XT5 supercomputer delivers superior sustained application performance from a single cabinet to massive scale while offering lower power consumption, industry-leading high density packaging, innovative cooling technologies and a fully upgradeable path from Cray XT3 and Cray XT4 systems. "Cray is a strong partner and we look forward to working together to tackle some of the most computationally complex problems our researchers face," said Cray Henry, director of the DOD's HPCMP. "We require industry-leading supercomputing technologies to enable the critical advances that allow us to accomplish our missions both at home and abroad."