Champaign, Ill. -- The National Center for Supercomputing Applications
(NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign announced that
Sears, Roebuck and Co. has joined the center's Industrial Program.

  The initial 12-month agreement adds Sears to a group of 13 industry
leaders partnering with NCSA to help increase U.S. industrial
competitiveness. NCSA's other industrial partners are AT&T, American
Airlines, Caterpillar, Dow Chemical, Eastman Kodak Co., Eli Lilly & Co.,
FMC, J.P. Morgan, Motorola Inc., Phillips Petroleum Co., Schlumberger,
Tribune Co., and United Technologies.

  "This agreement is significant because it adds one of the world's premier
retailing corporations to our Industrial Program," said NCSA Director Larry
Smarr. "Sears is a national leader in seeking new information technologies
to help them manage the ever-increasing competitive retail world. We feel
NCSA can help them apply the evolving high-performance computing and
information technologies to improve their ability to meet the growing
expectations of distinct customer segments in increasingly fractured
markets while holding the line on expense."

  Based in Hoffman Estates, Ill., Sears is a retailer of apparel,
home, and automotive products and services. The company operates 1,100
Sears department and specialty stores across the country, including
HomeLife furniture and Sears Hardware stores. Sears merchandise also is
sold in more than 350 authorized dealer stores nationwide. Western Auto
Supply Co., a Sears subsidiary, operates a nationwide network of more than
1,700 stores. The company's annual revenue exceeds $34 billion.