NEWS BRIEFS

Marseille, FRANCE — Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. and MCube, a leading provider of simulation software to manufacturers worldwide, announced that they will collaborate to attack a next-generation problem in automotive design – alleviating wind noise from side mirrors and driver’s side window structures (“A-pillars”), as well as exhaust system noise. The goal of the supercomputing collaboration is to help automakers satisfy consumer demand for increased passenger cabin comfort.

Simulation combining powerful software and supercomputers already has made vehicles safer in crashes and far more efficient, but even makers of expensive luxury cars cannot accurately predict wind and exhaust noise (aeroacoustics). “Accurate simulation of aeroacoustics requires a new generation of sophisticated software and unprecedented computing power,” said Dimitri Nicolopoulos, director of MCube. “MCube has been developing the next-generation software for several years and is ready to demonstrate its industrial feasibility. We believe the processing power of the Cray SV1(TM) supercomputer will enable a breakthrough.”

Nicolopoulos said MCube is excited to work with Cray “because of their leadership position in the automotive industry and Cray’s historical success in conquering next-generation industrial applications.”

“Simulating side mirror noise will be our first target, for several reasons,” said Cray Inc. applications manager Jef Dawson. “First, it’s one of the main sources of airflow-related noise. Second, there is good experimental data to validate our computer simulations against, to ensure that the simulations are effective engineering tools. Third, it requires very powerful processors (CPUs), and Cray supercomputers have those. Most important, it will allow automakers to speed time-to-market and save money by reducing physical prototyping.”

“MCube and its parent firm, Mecalog Holding SARL, are among the world’s most respected software companies,” added Dawson. “MCube has leading-edge experience in the established field of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and superb credentials for addressing the important new domain of computational aeroacoustic analysis (CAA).”

“We believe this collaboration will turn today’s dream into tomorrow’s routine for automotive designers,” said Rene Copeland, Cray Inc. vice president of sales and marketing.

Headquartered in Marseille, FRANCE, MCube SARL is a member of the RADIOSS group. It is dedicated to providing its clients worldwide with integrated software packages to address complex CFD, coupled fluid structure and acoustic problems. Sales offices are in France, UK, Germany, Japan and the USA. To learn more about MCube visit: http://www.mcube.fr

Cray Inc. designs, builds and sells high-performance MPP, vector processor and general-purpose parallel computer systems. The company has leading edge technology, multiple product platforms, nearly 900 employees, a $2 billion installed base of over 600 computers worldwide, major manufacturing and service capabilities and extensive global customer relationships. Cray believes its Multithreaded Architecture and Cray T3E and Cray SV product lines together represent the future of supercomputing. Go to http://www.cray.com for more information on the company.

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