Supercomputer company Cray has been awarded a $23 million-dollar contract to provide two Cray XC30 supercomputers and two Cray Sonexion 1600 storage systems to Germany’s National Meteorological Service, the Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD).
Researchers and scientists at DWD will be able to apply the petascale computing resources of the two Cray XC30 supercomputers – one of which will be used for production and the other for research and backup.
The new supercomputers will enable DWD to produce higher-resolution and more accurate global and regional weather forecasts to help fulfil its wide array of weather responsibilities, such as the meteorological safeguarding of aviation and shipping, and official warnings of weather occurrences that could become a danger for public safety.
'At our national meteorological service, we are responsible for providing services for the protection of life and property in the form of weather and climate information,' said Gerhard Adrian, president of DWD.
'This is the core task of the DWD, and thus it is imperative that we equip our researchers and scientists with scalable, productive, and above all, highly reliable supercomputing systems. The Cray XC30 supercomputers will be valuable resources for us, and we are pleased to be working with Cray.'
Ulla Thiel, Cray vice president for Europe, said: 'We are looking forward to building a strong collaboration and close partnership with DWD. This contract is yet another example of how we continue to expand our presence in the meteorological community in Europe and across the globe.'
