Intel buys technology from supercomputer maker Cray for $140M

[god_43]

Seattle supercomputer maker Cray is selling a major part of its technology portfolio to Intel for $140 million, a move that will shift up to 74 Cray employees to Intel.

The sale involves Cray's interconnect hardware assets and intellectual property. In addition to receiving the cash, the company is forming a new partnership with Intel, giving it "opportunities to leverage important differentiating features of certain future Intel products," the company said in a release.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...75_cray25.html


i am pretty sure this is in response to sea micro and amd. i mean that is what amd essentially bought...interconnect technology right? although i am pretty sure the Gemini interconnect from cray is faster.

[tbone8ty]

I see intel isn't at all upset over Amd buying Seamicro. Had to get 2nd best option

[savantu]

Cray is 2nd best option ? Oh my... care to compare their history and achievements ?

Btw, Intel now has probably the most versatile stack in the industry : Infiniband and Cray IP.

[haylui]

one less HPC manufacturer to buy AMD's processor...

[qcmadness]

one less HPC manufacturer to buy AMD's processor...

buy ip but not the company

[SKYMTL]

buy ip but not the company

IMO, the buy virtually guarantees future Cray products will almost exclusively use Intel.

Intel is now able to optimize their solutions for Cray's interconnect which facilitates implementation of upcoming processors into a preset ecosystem.

[qcmadness]

IMO, the buy virtually guarantees future Cray products will almost exclusively use Intel.
Intel is now able to optimize their solutions for Cray's interconnect which facilitates implementation of upcoming processors into a preset ecosystem.

Cray just expaned from AMD-based solution to Intel and NVIDIA's solutions.
I don't think they are dumb enough to lock themselves to Intel exclusively, especially in HPC world.

[Chaserjzx100]

from Cray's website:http://investors.cray.com/phoenix.zh...852&highlight=

Highlights of the agreement include:

-- Cray to receive $140 million in cash at closing;
-- Cray will continue to develop, sell and support current product lines,
as well as the Company's next-generation supercomputer code-named
"Cascade";
-- Cray has opportunities to leverage important differentiating features
of certain future Intel products;
-- Cray to retain certain rights to use the transferred assets and
intellectual property in Cray products;
-- Up to 74 Cray employees will join Intel;
-- The transaction is expected to close relatively quickly, but in any
event before the end of the current quarter, subject to customary
closing conditions.

[EniGmA1987]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...75_cray25.html


i am pretty sure this is in response to sea micro and amd. i mean that is what amd essentially bought...interconnect technology right? although i am pretty sure the Gemini interconnect from cray is faster.

If it is faster then AMD is retarded for paying more than double what it would have cost to get something faster from one of their formerly close partners.

[Lightman]

If it is faster then AMD is retarded for paying more than double what it would have cost to get something faster from one of their formerly close partners.

Buying whole company (SeaMicro) and buying company's technology (Cray) are two different things.

These moves show how important interconnect network (on chip or off chip) will become in coming years. They will be limiting scaling more than anything. Good to see that both companies are investing in solving these obstacles.

[kl0012]

If it is faster then AMD is retarded for paying more than double what it would have cost to get something faster from one of their formerly close partners.

May be it is Intel-Cray deal which forced AMD to buy Seamicro.

So why did AMD go for Seamicro and not Cray in the first place? It seems that executives at AMD heard that the Cray deal was going down and rather than open negotiations of its own with Cray, it thought it would opt for different technology from Seamicro instead. It is possible that AMD thought that if Intel was going to steal its crown jewels, then it would have a go at nabbing one of Chipzilla's partners instead. The problem is that AMD did not know that Intel had already given up on Seamicro's technology, which was one of the reasons it was talking to Cray.

http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/26...s-interconnect