SEATTLE, and CUPERTINO, Calif., March 5 -- Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. and ScaleMP, a leading provider of virtualization solutions for high-end computing, today announced a strategic alliance to offer joint solutions based on the Cray CX1 deskside supercomputer and ScaleMP's vSMP Foundation. Available immediately, the joint solution will target the high performance computing (HPC) segment allowing customers to operate a shared-memory, deskside supercomputer that scales up to 128 cores and 1TB of shared memory.

The Cray and ScaleMP strategic alliance is focused on enabling supercomputing at the workstation level. The combined Cray CX1 system and vSMP Foundation solution enables workgroups and small organizations to deploy high performance computing capabilities that harness the power of multiple processors while simplifying their operational environment. This solution is versatile, able to run a variety of Linux workloads such as large memory, parallel workloads and high core count shared memory applications, and delivers excellent performance across many programming models ranging from MPI, OpenMP and legacy code.

"Cray and ScaleMP are addressing important requirements for HPC by offering a personal supercomputer workstation," said Earl Joseph, IDC Program vice president. "Many departmental and work group users of HPC applications have been constrained by the lack of in-house skills to move up to clusters from workstations. This solution will allow these users to more easily scale up their simulations and models and boost productivity and competitiveness without the added complexity."

"I am very excited about our collaboration with Cray," said Shai Fultheim, founder and CEO of ScaleMP. "Cray is synonymous with excellence in the high-end supercomputer segment. This announcement enables HPC customers to get Cray performance at the deskside, in a cost-effective, workstation-like simplicity. Cray customers will be leveraging the capabilities of vSMP Foundation to achieve a flexible compute resource capable of solving bigger problems -- accelerating time to market and innovation."

"The ScaleMP vSMP Foundation virtualization software is an excellent fit for the Cray CX1, which was designed specifically to harness HPC for individuals and departmental workgroups," said Ian Miller, senior vice president of the productivity solutions group and marketing at Cray. "By creating a single shared memory virtual system, the joint solution can now support large memory and large core count workloads in addition to parallel workloads, while simplifying the installation and management of the system."

vSMP Foundation aggregates multiple industry-standard, off-the-shelf x86 servers (rack mounted or blade systems) into one single virtual high-end system for the HPC market. vSMP Foundation provides customers with an alternative to traditional expensive symmetrical multiprocessor (SMP) systems and also offers simplified clustering infrastructure with a single operating system. It currently allows customers to create a single virtual SMP system with up to 32 sockets (128 cores) and up to 4 TB of shared memory in an energy-efficient, dense package.

About Cray Inc.

As a global leader in supercomputing, Cray (NASDAQ: CRAY) provides highly advanced supercomputers and world-class services and support to government, industry and academia. Cray technology enables scientists and engineers to achieve remarkable breakthroughs by accelerating performance, improving efficiency and extending the capabilities of their most demanding applications. Cray's Adaptive Supercomputing vision will result in innovative next-generation products that integrate diverse processing technologies into a unified architecture, allowing customers to surpass today's limitations and meeting the market's continued demand for realized performance. Go to www.cray.com for more information.

Cray CX1 Supercomputer

The Cray CX1 product is an affordably-priced, deskside supercomputer. Easy to configure, deploy, administer and use, it is the "right size" in performance, functionality and cost for a wide range of users, from the single user who wants a personal supercomputer to a department of users as a shared clustered resource. Equipped with powerful Intel Xeon processors and Windows HPC Server 2008 or Red Hat Enterprise Linux with Clustercorp Rocks+, the Cray CX1 product offers performance leadership across a broad range of applications and standard benchmarks. For organizations wanting to harness HPC without the complexity of traditional clusters, the Cray CX1 supercomputer delivers the power of a high performance cluster with the ease-of-use and seamless integration of a workstation.

About ScaleMP

ScaleMP is the leader in virtualization for high-end computing, providing maximum performance and lower total cost of ownership (TCO). The innovative Versatile SMP (vSMP) architecture aggregates multiple x86 systems into a single virtual x86 system, delivering an industry-standard, high-end symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) computer. Using software to replace custom hardware and components, ScaleMP offers a new, revolutionary computing paradigm. The company is backed by Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, TL Ventures, and ABS Ventures. For more information, call +1 (408) 342-0330 or visit www.ScaleMP.com.

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Source: Cray Inc.