Cray To Deliver New Supercomputer

Cray announced that the company's next-generation vector high-performance computing system is scheduled for general availability in the second half of 2007. Code-named "BlackWidow," the new system is part of an evolving heterogeneous processing capability that is the centerpiece of Cray's Adaptive Supercomputing vision.

A follow-on to current Cray vector supercomputers, BlackWidow will achieve superior sustained application performance with faster clock speeds, higher bandwidth and greater scalability. Applications developed for the Cray X1E system and its predecessor, the Cray X1 system, will port easily to BlackWidow. Vector processing enables breakthrough research in areas such as advanced aircraft design, weather forecasting and climate modeling, internal combustion simulation, structural and fluid analysis and plasma energy.

BlackWidow and Cray XT3-class supercomputers will use a new scalable infrastructure, called "Rainier" (the initial phase of Cray's Adaptive Supercomputing vision), which provides common input/output processing and system services. This will give customers a way to combine best-in-class vector and scalar processing power in a more economical and flexible package, avoiding the administrative costs and complexities of having to install and manage separate systems.

"Building on the success of the Cray X1E system, the new BlackWidow supercomputer will give scientists and engineers a powerful computational tool that offers dramatically improved price/performance and enhanced capabilities designed to solve complex problems that are beyond the abilities of cluster systems using commodity processors," said Peter Ungaro, Cray's president and CEO. "The tightly integrated design will allow customers to configure an optimal mix of vector and scalar computing resources in a single supercomputer running the familiar Linux operating system. This will also give our Cray XT3 customers the opportunity to add high-bandwidth, vector capability in small, cost-effective increments."

Source: Cray

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