SEATTLE, WA -- 09/08/09 --
Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. (NASDAQ: CRAY) today announced that it has signed a multi-year, multi-phase contract
to provide the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) with a
next-generation supercomputer. Valued at more than $40 million, the award
is one of the largest in the area of operational numerical weather
prediction in the world to-date, and will provide KMA with the necessary
supercomputing, storage and data management technologies to reinforce its
position as one of the world's premier weather forecasting and research
centers.
Based in Seoul, South Korea, KMA's mission is operational weather
forecasting and climate research for the benefit and welfare of the Korean
public and industry. KMA will use Cray's scalable, massively parallel
processing (MPP) supercomputers to provide more accurate regional and
global numerical model forecasts through increased model resolution,
increased ensemble sizes and the implementation of advanced data
assimilation.
"We are quite proud that KMA has once again turned to Cray to provide the
necessary supercomputing capabilities to meet the demanding requirements of
weather forecasting and climate research, which are important segments for
our business," said Peter Ungaro, Cray president and CEO. "Once completed,
the Cray supercomputer at KMA will be the largest integrated solution for
operational numerical weather prediction in the Asia Pacific region and one
of the largest in the world -- another strong proof point for not only our
current Cray XT5 supercomputer, but also future systems we are in the
process of developing and will be delivering as part of this contract. We
are honored to be able to help KMA scientists and researchers provide more
detailed and accurate numerical weather predictions in support of their
mission of identifying the potential of severe weather systems in a more
timely fashion."
Cray was awarded the multi-year contract based on the superior delivered
application performance and a robust total solution to KMA's demanding
operational requirement. Once completed, the Cray system will feature a
peak performance in excess of 600 teraflops (trillions of calculations per
second) and a multi-tiered, multi-petabyte storage, archival and back-up
system. The Cray system will be delivered in two phases, with acceptance of
both expected during the second half of 2010.
Cray will also provide service and support, including applications support
for KMA's operational and research weather and climate models.
Additionally, Cray and KMA will continue to expand the successful Earth
System Research Center (ESRC), which is a cooperative venture established
in 2005 to advance the science of earth system modeling over the East-Asia
Pacific region and to leverage the collective knowledge of academia,
government and industry by promoting collaboration across these
communities.
About the Korea Meteorological Administration
Established in 1949 as the Central Meteorological Office, KMA is a
governmental organization dedicated to improving public welfare through the
prevention and mitigation of meteorological disasters, by supporting
government and business activities such as transportations and water
resource management that depend on accurate weather forecasts, and by
producing scientific information on climate change. KMA comprises the
Forecast, Observation, Climate and Industry and IT bureaus; the NWP
officer; NIMR; aviation weather stations; five Regional Meteorological
Offices with more than 1,200 employees; and 94 weather and observation
stations. The organization collaborates with other entities engaged in
meteorological prediction and research worldwide. Go to
http://web.kma.go.kr/eng/index.jsp for more information.
About Cray Inc.
As a global leader in supercomputing, Cray provides highly advanced
supercomputers and world-class services and support to government, industry
and academia. Cray technology enables scientists and engineers to achieve
remarkable breakthroughs by accelerating performance, improving efficiency
and extending the capabilities of their most demanding applications. Cray's
Adaptive Supercomputing vision will result in innovative next-generation
products that integrate diverse processing technologies into a unified
architecture, allowing customers to surpass today's limitations and meeting
the market's continued demand for realized performance. 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 to differ materially from those
anticipated by the statements above, including the technical challenges of
developing high performance computing systems; the successful passing of
acceptance tests; significant reliance on third-party development service
and parts suppliers, including their competitiveness with other suppliers
and potential delays in the results of their development and in the
availability of qualified parts from suppliers; and Cray's ability to keep
up with rapid technological change. For a discussion of these and other
risks, see "Risk Factors" in Cray's most recent Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q filed with the SEC.
Cray is a registered trademark, and Cray XT and Cray XT5 are trademarks of
Cray Inc. Other product and service names mentioned herein are the
trademarks of their respective owners.
Cray Media:
Nick Davis
206/701-2123
pr@cray.com
Cray Investors:
Paul Hiemstra
206/701-2044
ir@cray.com