SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwired - Apr 9, 2015) - Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. (
The Cray systems will be built and delivered as part of the DOE's initiative to build state-of-the art supercomputers through the joint Collaboration of Oak Ridge, Argonne and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (CORAL) program.
The flagship system, to be called "Aurora," will be based on the next-generation Cray supercomputer, code-named "Shasta," the successor to the current, industry-leading Cray® XC™ line of supercomputers. Aurora will utilize Intel's HPC scalable system framework, is expected to have a peak performance of 180 petaflops and is scheduled for delivery in 2018. This marks the first selection for a next-generation Cray Shasta supercomputer.
"The ALCF is focused on providing the computational science community with advanced supercomputing systems capable of achieving important breakthroughs in science and engineering, and the Aurora system is a significant continuation of our mission," said Rick Stevens, Associate Laboratory Director for Argonne National Laboratory. "The scalable architecture of Cray's next-generation Shasta system combined with Intel's advanced processing technologies ensures the Aurora system will be a valuable resource for computational science and engineering."
Cray and Intel will provide ALCF with a second system, to be called "Theta," which will be a Cray XC series supercomputer and is expected to be delivered in 2016. Theta will be an early production system for Argonne and will have a peak performance of more than 8 petaflops. Cray also has options to provide next-generation, high-performance parallel storage systems for both the Theta and Aurora systems.
"We take great pride in building powerful supercomputers for advancing scientific discovery, and through our collaboration with Intel and Argonne, we expect the Aurora system will provide the DOE user community with the most powerful supercomputer we will have ever built," said Peter Ungaro, president and CEO of Cray. "Aurora also has added significance for us as it will be based on our next-generation Shasta system - the supercomputing heir to our Cray XC series, which is our most successful system ever and a leader in the supercomputing market today. Our Shasta platform will merge the best technologies from our XC line, as well as from our Cray CS line of cluster supercomputers, into a truly adaptive computing framework across both supercomputing and analytics workloads. We are very excited to have been selected by Intel to partner with them to build this unique, ground-breaking system for Argonne."
The next-generation Cray Shasta platform will build upon the advanced supercomputing technologies currently available in the high-end Cray XC and Cray CS™ cluster supercomputers to provide customers with more flexible, reliable and scalable systems for quickly solving the world's toughest computational challenges. Using best-in-class processors, memory and networks, the Shasta systems are the full embodiment of Cray's Adaptive Supercomputing vision and will be designed to provide Cray customers with a path to exascale computing.
Cray's Shasta platform will feature a next-generation system architecture with the flexibility to support multiple infrastructures and software environments. This will allow Shasta systems to be configured to address a broad range of compute and data-intensive workflows, and the systems will be designed to provide configuration options across the price/performance spectrum to address the different requirements of commercial, government, academic and other user organizations. Shasta's adaptive supercomputing infrastructure is designed to support multiple Intel building blocks, such as future Intel® Xeon and Xeon Phi™ processors and Intel® Omni-Path Fabric high speed interconnect technology.
"The Aurora system will represent the pinnacle of supercomputing, providing Argonne with a balanced, power efficient and reliable system based on Intel Architecture that will preserve their existing investments in software applications for years to come," said Raj Hazra, vice president, Data Center Group and general manager, Technical Computing Group at Intel. "We are excited about this new working relationship with Cray to accelerate the path to exascale and drive the next-generation of scientific discoveries at Argonne National Labs."
A range of positive financial outcomes exist with this contract due to multiple options associated with the various deliverables and funding including a separate R&D contract. Delivery for the initial Theta system is expected in 2016. If exercised as anticipated, Cray expects the larger follow-on Aurora system to be delivered in 2018.
Conference Call Information Cray, Intel and Argonne will host a conference call today, Thursday, April 9, 2015 at 10:30 a.m. PDT (1:30 p.m. EDT) to discuss today's announcement. To access the call, please dial into the conference at least 10 minutes prior to the beginning of the call at (877) 809-7263. International caller should dial (857)-244-8351. The passcode is 67256629.
About Cray Inc.
Global supercomputing leader Cray Inc. (
Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, including, but not limited to, statements related to orders for Cray XC and Cray Shasta-based systems, Cray's ability to deliver the systems required by the CORAL program when required and that meet the CORAL program's needs and the planned availability, performance and features of the Cray Cascade system. These statements involve current expectations, forecasts of future events and other statements that are not historical facts. Inaccurate assumptions and known and unknown risks and uncertainties can affect the accuracy of forward-looking statements and cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements. Factors that could affect actual future events or results include, but are not limited to the risk that orders for either Cray XC or Cray Shasta-based systems through the CORAL program are smaller than expected or not placed at all, the risk that the systems required by the CORAL program are not delivered in a timely fashion or do not perform as expected, the risk that Cray is not able to successfully complete its planned product development efforts or to ship Cascade systems within the planned timeframe or at all, the risk that the Cascade system will not have the features, performance or components currently planned, the risk that processors and interconnect technology planned for the Cray Cascade system are not available when expected or with the performance expected and such other risks as identified in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014, and from time to time in other reports filed by Cray with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not rely unduly on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this release. Cray undertakes no duty to publicly announce or report revisions to these statements as new information becomes available that may change the Company's expectations.
Cray is a registered trademark of Cray Inc. in the United States and other countries, and XC and CS are trademarks of Cray Inc. Other product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
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