CINECA In Italy Selects Cray XD1 Supercomputer for Advanced Science an

    Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

    SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 14, 2005--Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. (Nasdaq:CRAY) today announced that CINECA, Italy's national supercomputing center, has selected the new Cray XD1(TM) supercomputer to advance scientific and engineering research across a broad spectrum of disciplines. The 144-processor system is the largest ordered by a European customer since the Cray XD1 supercomputer began shipping to Europe in November 2004.
    CINECA will make the innovative Cray XD1 supercomputer available to researchers at its 25 affiliated Italian universities for advanced work in mathematics, engineering, physics, chemistry, statistics, climate science, biomedicine and human sciences. CINECA will also exploit the Cray XD1 system's field programmable gate array (FPGA) capabilities for acceleration of key applications.
    "We look forward to giving Italy's research community access to the latest Cray technology and to expanding our long-standing, beneficial relationship with Cray," said CINECA Director Marco Lanzarini. In 2004, CINECA hosted the successful Cray Advanced Technical Workshop in Europe.
    "Cray is excited that CINECA, a national supercomputing center with a strong worldwide reputation, has chosen the Cray XD1 supercomputer as a powerful new tool for its users. We will collaborate closely with Marco Lanzarini and his staff to ensure that CINECA's ambitious goals for this system are met," said Ulla Thiel, vice president responsible for Cray Europe.

    More About the Cray XD1 Supercomputer

    The Cray XD1 is rapidly winning customers around the world. This exciting new system lets users experience the performance and reliability of Cray supercomputing technology in systems that scale from small to highly parallel. The Cray XD1 provides scientists and engineers with a platform purpose-built to meet their high performance computing challenges, and is an attractive alternative to the challenge of managing clusters assembled from general-purpose business servers.
    The Cray XD1 supercomputer features the direct connect processor (DCP) architecture, which removes PCI bottlenecks and memory contention to deliver superior sustained performance. The Cray XD1 system has the lowest latency of any current HPC system, with MPI latency of 1.8 microseconds in measured tests conducted using the Ohio State MPI benchmark.

    About CINECA

    CINECA, based in Bologna, Italy, is a consortium of 25 Italian universities and the National Research Council (CNR) and was founded in 1969 to provide supercomputing for high-energy physics. CINECA is part of Italy's Ministry of University and Scientific Research (MIUR). CINECA's mission today is to promote the use of the most advanced information processing systems to support public and private scientific and technology research.

    About Cray Inc.

    As the global leader in high performance computing (HPC), Cray provides innovative supercomputing systems that enable scientists and engineers in government, industry and academia to meet both existing and future computational challenges. Building on years of experience in designing, developing, marketing and servicing the world's most advanced supercomputers, Cray offers a comprehensive portfolio of HPC systems that deliver unrivaled sustained performance on a wide range of applications. Go to www.cray.com for more information.

    Safe Harbor Statement

    This press release contains forward-looking statements. There are certain factors that could cause Cray's execution plans to differ materially from those anticipated by the statements above. These include the technical challenges of developing high performance computing systems, government support and timing of supercomputer system purchases, the successful porting of application programs to Cray computer systems, reliance on third-party suppliers, fluctuating quarterly operating results, lower margins and earnings due to significant pricing pressure, Cray's ability to keep up with rapid technological change, Cray's ability to compete against larger, more established companies and innovative competitors, and general economic and market conditions. For a discussion of these and other risks, see "Factors That Could Affect Future Results" in Cray's most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC.

    Cray is a registered trademark, and Cray XD1 is a trademark, of Cray Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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CONTACT: Cray Inc. Media: Steve Conway, 651-592-7441 sttico@aol.com or Investors: Victor Chynoweth, 206-701-2280 victorc@cray.com

KEYWORD: WASHINGTON ITALY INTERNATIONAL EUROPE INDUSTRY KEYWORD: HARDWARE AEROSPACE/DEFENSE GOVERNMENT SOFTWARE NETWORKING PRODUCT SOURCE: Cray Inc.

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