Korea Meteorological Administration Selects Cray

Cray Inc. has been awarded a $54 million contract to provide the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) with two next-generation Cray XC supercomputers and a Cray Sonexion storage system.

In support of its mission of realizing meteorological services to be in-time, accurate and valuable, KMA will use the XC supercomputers to provide more accurate weather forecasts through increased model resolution, new forecasting models, increased ensemble sizes, and the implementation of data assimilation.

“KMA is responsible for providing services for the protection of life and property in the form of weather and climate information,” said Kyung Heoun Lee, director, National Center for Meteorological Supercomputing, KMA. “We live in a weather sensitive environment, and people and businesses increasing rely on us for accurate environmental forecasting. Our new Cray supercomputers will be a valuable resource for us to meet our strategic, operational and research objectives.“

“Weather forecasting and climate research play vital roles in societies across the globe, and we are honored that KMA, one of the premier centers in this important industry, has once again selected a Cray system to meet their demanding requirements for producing an extensive range of meteorological services,” said Andrew Wyatt, Cray VP, APMEA. “We have developed a long, collaborative relationship with KMA over the years, and we are honored our partnership will continue.“

Cray said it will provide KMA with a multi-petaflops supercomputing infrastructure designed for operational resiliency.

The system will include two next-generation XC supercomputing systems – one of which will be used for production and the other for research and backup – and a multi-petabyte Cray Sonexion storage system. The XC system at KMA will be a next generation version of the current XC30 supercomputer.

Consisting of products and services, the multi-year multi-phase contract is valued at more than $54 million, and final system delivery is expected to be completed in 2015.