SEATTLE and SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 14, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- At the 2016 Supercomputing Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. (Nasdaq: CRAY ) today announced it has achieved acceptance for “Theta,” the Cray® XC40™ supercomputer, as well as a Cray Sonexion® 3000 storage system, located at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF), a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility at Argonne National Laboratory. The Theta system marks Cray and Intel’s first acceptance for a large-scale supercomputer featuring the latest generation of Intel® Xeon Phi™ processors formerly code named “Knights Landing.”
Theta has a peak performance of more than eight petaflops, and is currently running a broad range of scientific applications through the ALCF’s Theta Early Science Program. The Cray XC40 system was delivered to Argonne National Laboratory through a partnership with Intel as part of the DOE’s initiative to build state-of-the art supercomputers through the Collaboration of Oak Ridge, Argonne, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (CORAL) program.
“The Argonne Leadership Computing Facility is committed to providing advanced supercomputing resources, like the Theta system, that help our researchers solve some of the world’s largest and most complex problems,” said Rick Stevens, Associate Laboratory Director for Argonne National Laboratory. “We are pleased that Theta is now accelerating our scientific research.”
Cray, in partnership with Intel, will also deliver a flagship system called “Aurora” as part of the CORAL program. 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 is expected to have a peak performance of 180 petaflops and is scheduled for delivery in 2018.
“The acceptance of Theta is a significant milestone for Cray and Intel as we continue to work towards the installation and acceptance of several Cray supercomputers with the new Intel Xeon Phi processors,” said Peter Ungaro, president and CEO of Cray. “Our collaboration with Intel and Argonne is focused on producing powerful supercomputers for the DOE user community. The Theta system is exciting step forward in our partnership, and one that I know many other supercomputer centers around the world are watching as they evaluate this new processor technology for their next mission-critical system.”
Cray is a leader in deploying supercomputers with the Intel Xeon Phi processors, and several top supercomputing centers have signed large contracts for Cray XC™ supercomputers with Intel’s new processor. These systems include the “ Cori ” system at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC); the “ Trinity ” system at the National Nuclear Security Administration; and the Cray XC40 supercomputer at the Academic Center for Computing and Media Studies at Kyoto University in Kyoto, Japan.
“The Theta supercomputer at Argonne is an important step in the CORAL project and a milestone on the path towards the Aurora system,” said Dr. Rajeeb Hazra, Vice President of the Data Center group and General Manager of the Enterprise and Government group at Intel. “The combination of Intel’s leading technology, latest Intel Xeon Phi processor technology, codenamed Knights Landing, Intel Scalable System Framework, and Cray’s system capabilities is helping to drive scientific discoveries and engineering breakthroughs.”
For more information on the Cray XC supercomputers and Cray Sonexion storage systems , please visit the Cray website at www.cray.com .
About Cray Inc. Global supercomputing leader Cray Inc. (Nasdaq: CRAY ) provides innovative systems and solutions enabling scientists and engineers in industry, academia and government to meet existing and future simulation and analytics challenges. Leveraging more than 40 years of experience in developing and servicing the world’s most advanced supercomputers, Cray offers a comprehensive portfolio of supercomputers and big data storage and analytics solutions delivering unrivaled performance, efficiency and scalability. Cray’s Adaptive Supercomputing vision is focused on delivering innovative next-generation products that integrate diverse processing technologies into a unified architecture, allowing customers to meet 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 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 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 Shasta 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 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 Shasta systems within the planned timeframe or at all, the risk that the Shasta system will not have the features, performance or components currently planned, the risk that processors and interconnect technology planned for the Cray Shasta system are not available when expected or with the performance expected and such other risks as identified in the Company’s quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2016, 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, and the stylized CRAY mark and SONEXION are registered trademarks of Cray Inc. in the United States and other countries, and XC40 and XC are trademarks of Cray Inc. Other product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
Intel and Xeon Phi are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries.
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Cray Investors: Paul Hiemstra 206/701-2044 ir@cray.com
