Cray: Mardi Larson, 612/683-3538
Brown: Professor G.S. Guralnik, 401/863-2623
BROWN UNIVERSITY INSTALLS FIRST OF TWO CRAY
RESEARCH SUPERCOMPUTERS
EAGAN, Minn., Oct. 26, 1995 -- Cray Research announced today
that Providence, RI.-based Brown University has installed the
first of two CRAY(R) supercomputers to be dedicated to the
university's Department of Physics. According to Cray,
Brown's physics department is the first university physics
department in the U.S. to acquire a Cray system. Terms were
not disclosed.
A large-memory (four gigabyte) CRAY EL98(TM) system was
installed this year, to be followed by a CRAY J916(TM) system
scheduled for installation later next year. These systems are
the first Cray Research supercomputers acquired by Brown and
will be used by Brown University Professors Guralnik,
Kosterlitz, Marston, Tan and other university physicists and
students who are focusing on problems in high-energy and
condensed matter theoretical physics. These users will run
simulations on the supercomputers to help them learn more
about the basic structure of matter and its interactions.
"Combined with analytic methods, the computational power of
the Cray supercomputers will make an excellent tool for
understanding how microscopic laws determine the higher
level characteristics of matter," said Dr. Brad Marston,
assistant professor of physics at Brown University. "The Cray
supercomputers will give physicists at Brown a powerful tool
to develop new ideas because of their ability to run the very
complex simulations that are often needed to make predictions
from current theories and ideas," Marston continued.
While these CRAY systems will be used to perform calculations
testing very abstract ideas, in time, the results could become
important for everyday living.
"When we understand something basic about the universe" said
Dr. Gerald Guralnik, professor of physics at Brown, "it
eventually affects the way we live. That is how we generated
the technological advances we already have today. The
knowledge that we obtain could be essential for developing
new energy sources as well as leading to new product
developments in the semiconductor and materials industries."
The CRAY EL98 and CRAY J916 are Cray's compact, air-cooled
supercomputers priced starting at $250,000 (U.S. list price).
The supercomputers are designed to operate as powerful
simulation servers for compute-intensive problems that
challenge the capabilities of workstations. Since its
announcement in September 1994, the current CRAY J90 line
has attracted more than 200 orders, with about 40 percent
coming from new-to-Cray customers including from new
industries.
Cray Research provides the leading high-performance
computing tools and services to help solve customers' most
challenging problems.
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Source: Brown University Installs First of Two Cray Research Supercomputers
