Cray Wins Big Deal in Brazil

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Cray announced today that they have officially landed a serious contract with Foundation for Space Technology, Applications and Science (FUNCATE) in Brazil.  These are the folks in Brazil responsible for the procurement of high performance computing gear in Brazil.  More specifically, the machine will land at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE).  The new Cray XT6 machine will be tasked with workloads focused on climate research and weather forecasting.

Cray logoThe INPE scientific team asserts that continued increase in supercomputing capacity is paramount to the advancement of simulation capabilities and improvement in forecast quality,” said Haroldo Fraga de Campos Velho, Associate Director for Space and Environment, INPE. “The Cray XT6 supercomputer is designed to support the most challenging high performance computing workloads in demanding operational environments, and INPE scientists are looking forward to applying the system’s computational resources in their simulations of atmospheric phenomena. The new Cray supercomputer will meet the immediate need for more accurate simulations, which are important to weather, climate and environmental forecasting, and to the study of climate change supporting the National and FAPESP research networks.”

Overall, the contract consists of a multi-year project with both products and services attached.  All in all, its worth upwards of $20 million.

We are honored that INPE chose Cray to deliver the supercomputing capabilities necessary for its scientists and researchers to perform critical weather predictions,” said Barry Bolding, Cray’s vice president of scalable systems. “Cray supercomputers excel at large-scale simulations, and the Cray XT6 system is designed to meet the demanding requirements of operational weather forecasting and climate research — scientific areas that rely heavily on Cray’s performance, scalability and reliability.”

For more info on the new Cray machines headed for South America, read their full release here.