Businessweek

cessing or application performance, environmental limitations or integration with distinct equipment. Its services encompass the entire life cycle of a product or system, spanning design, development, program management, application characterization, production, installation, integration and support. Customer Support: The company’s support services include hardware and software maintenance in support of systems, applications support, installation project management, system installation and de-installation, site preparation and technical training for systems. In addition, the company offers ancillary services in application consulting, site engineering, on-site analysts for defined projects and specialized training. Markets The company’s systems are installed at approximately 100 sites worldwide. Its target markets for products designed for the supercomputer market segment are: Scientific Research: Scientific research includes governmental research laboratories and research universities. The Department of Defense, through its High Performance Computing Modernization Program, funds research organizations that are target customers for the company. The Office of Science in the Department of Energy and its laboratories are the company’s target customers, as are the National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and related agencies. National Security: Classified work in U.S. government agencies has represented an important customer market for the company. Customers for the company’s products include Department of Defense-related classified customers, the National Nuclear Security Administration of the Department of Energy and certain foreign counterparts. Defense: HPC systems can assist in the development of defense technologies, equipment and secure communications infrastructure, as well as in the identification and analysis of military intelligence. Intelligence supports real-time development of defense strategy and decision making, while technology advancements are necessary to maintain military deterrents. Earth Sciences: The company has various customers running weather and climate applications, including customers in Korea, Brazil, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, India, Spain and the United States. Life Sciences: In the life sciences, HPC methods cover a vast area that includes modular and quantum mechanics and dynamics, quantitative structure-activity relationship models, genomic assembly and comparison, whole cell process simulations, and medical imaging. Energy: The company has customers utilizing both Cray XE6 and Cray XK6 systems. Computer-Aided Engineering: The company has customers in the aerospace, automotive, life sciences and manufacturing industries worldwide. Data Analytics: The company is in early implementations of its solutions with various research, governmental and life sciences organizations. Sales and Marketing The company sells high-end products and custom engineered solutions primarily through a direct sales force that operates throughout the United States and in Canada, Europe, Japan and Asia-Pacific. Customers The company’s significant customers, including those funded by the U.S. Government, include High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center. Competition The company’s competitors HPC supercomputing market include IBM, Hewlett-Packard, NEC, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Silicon Graphics International, and Bull S.A. Its storage products compete with manufacturers and integrators of parallel storage solutions, including IBM with its GPFS parallel filesystem and with Data Direct Network, NetApp, and Terascala. The company competes primarily with defense contractors, such as General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman and selected systems vendors, such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard. History Cray Inc. was founded in 1987. The company was incorporated in the state of Washington in 1987 under the name Tera Computer Company and changed its name to Cray Inc. in 2000.