Cray upgrading Army supercomputer
- By Judi Hasson
- May 11, 2000
The Army has awarded Cray Inc. an $18.5 million contract to upgrade the
Army's High Performance Computing Research Center's Cray supercomputer.
This is the first major order for the company that was formed on March 31
when the Seattle-based Tera Computer Co. acquired Cray Research from Silicon
Graphic Inc.
"A multimillion-dollar order for supercomputers to support the Department
of Defense and the U.S. Army's science and technology base is a strong indicator
of customer confidence in the newly formed Cray Inc.," said Cray president
Jim Rottsolk
The upgraded system at AHPCRC will be one of the world's most powerful supercomputers.
The contract also includes an option for AHPCRC to acquire next-generation
Cray supercomputer technology.
The primary purpose of the computer — about the size of two standard-sized
refrigerators — is to increase the safety margins for paratroopers jumping
out of airplanes, said Cray spokesman Steve Conway.
The system also will be used to support basic research activities at AHPCRC
and its partner academic institutions. System delivery is expected by midyear.
Cray Inc. builds and sells high-performance vector processor and general-purpose
parallel computer systems.
Conway said the supercomputer would be "the world's most powerful computer
except for anything we don't know about in the classified field."
Cray has substantial business with federal agencies, including DOD, the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA.