Cray wins next gen nuclear supercomputing work

Cray Inc. wins $174 million contract to provide a supercomputer to the agency in charge of security the U.S. nuclear stockpile.

Cray Inc. has won what it says is one of the largest contracts in its history – a $174 million agreement to provide a supercomputer system to the National Nuclear Security Administration.

In addition to the latest Cray XC supercomputer, the company also will provide a Cray Sonexion storage system.

The XC will be used to help the agency manage the safety, security and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear stockpile.

The contract with Cray will create a supercomputer system, called Trinity, as part of a joint effort between the New Mexico Alliance for Computer at Extreme Scale at Los Alamos National Lab and Sandia National Lab as part of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Advanced Simulation and Computing Program.

The Trinity system will support all three of the agency’s national laboratories, which include Los Alamos, Sandia and Lawrence Livermore. The NNSA’s current supercomputer sited at Los Alamos is a Cray XE system named “Cielo.” The new Trinity system is expected to deliver more than eight times greater applications performance than the Cielo system, according to a company statement.