Cray Gets $128 Mln Supercomputer Contract From UK's Met Office

(RTTNews) - Supercomputer maker Cray Inc. (CRAY) announced Monday that it has received a contract to provide the Met Office in the United Kingdom with multiple Cray XC supercomputers and Cray Sonexion storage systems.

Consisting of products and services, the multi-year, multi-phase contract is valued at more than $128 million at current exchange rates. Multiple system deliveries are expected between 2014 and 2017, with the major deliveries expected between 2015 and 2017.

The deal consists of three phases spanning multiple years. The contract expands Cray's significant presence in the global weather and climate community. The latest deal is the largest supercomputer contract ever for Cray outside of the United States.

The Met Office, United Kingdom's national weather service, is recognized as one of the world's most accurate forecasters. The Met Office uses more than 10 million weather observations a day and an advanced atmospheric model to create 3,000 tailored forecasts and briefings each day.

The final configurations will include Cray XC40 systems as well as next-generation Cray XC systems with current and future Intel Xeon processors. According to the firm, the Cray supercomputers at the Met Office will have 13 times more supercomputing power than its current systems.

The Met Office will use its new Cray supercomputers and storage systems for operational weather prediction and climate research.

Cray shares settled at $29.62 on Monday, up 1.13 percent.