Cray
and Dell Computer Corp.
Monday announced a partnership under which Cray will market high-performance cluster solutions and services worldwide using Dell’s PowerEdge servers.
The three-year, automatically renewable agreement is effective immediately, and calls for Cray to sell and provide direct customer support (including installation, maintenance, and support) for high-performance-computing (HPC) solutions that combine Dell’s scalable PowerEdge servers and storage with Cray’s HPC technologies and services.
Cray will also offer a variety of services such as site planning, system integration and training, and hardware and software customization.
“Our relationship with Dell fulfills the strategy we announced in December 2001 to deliver cluster solutions through Cray’s new Professional Services organization,” said Michael Haydock, president and CEO of Cray.
“Separately, Cray and Dell discovered an important unmet need for high-quality, cost-effective cluster solutions surrounded by deep HPC expertise. Through our Cray T3E history, Cray has become one of the world’s leading experts at working with customers to make scalable, microprocessor-based solutions successful,” Haydock added.
Cray will market the Linux-based solutions alongside its existing HPC products and solutions. In addition, Dell, through its High-Performance Computing Clusters program, which was also announced Monday, will continue to offer supercomputing capabilities through bundled cluster configurations.
“Cray’s selection of Dell PowerEdge servers is another example of how industry-standard technology is pushing further into the enterprise, and now handling a growing range of supercomputing tasks,” said Randy Groves, vice president of Dell’s Enterprise Systems Group.
Under the terms of the agreement, Dell will provide Cray with current and future products. Dell will also provide various networking and storage options, training, and support for Cray’s engineering and service organizations.
To keep the partnership fluid, Cray and Dell will meet as needed to discuss requirements for specific sales opportunities, and on a quarterly basis to plan potential enhancements to Dell’s cluster product road map.
Amy Newman is managing editor of Serverwatch.
