Fujitsu Limited secures a service contract to supply a new supercomputer to the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--December 8, 1995--Fujitsu Limited has secured a "Service Contract" to supply the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) with a new vector parallel supercomputer system to replace its existing CRAY YMP C90/16 and CRAY T3D supercomputers.

The Service Contract provides ECMWF with supercomputer systems, software and maintenance over a period of almost five years (1996-2000) and is valued at 25 million pounds.

Under the contract, Fujitsu Limited will install a VPP300 system which will be used for migration and development purposes in March 1996. In June 1996, the system will be upgraded to a new CMOS-based Vector Parallel supercomputer. This system will provide a sustained performance of five times that of the C90/16. In 1998, the system will be upgraded to provide roughly 25 times the sustained performance of the C90/16.

ECMWF, established by a convention signed in October 1973, is one of the largest weather forecast centres in Europe and provides a service to its 18 European Member States. Since it started operational activities in 1979, ECMWF has also been one of the largest supercomputer centres in Europe, as it has traditionally installed the latest and most powerful supercomputers. Dr. David Burridge, Director of ECMWF, said, "We selected Fujitsu because of the superior price performance of their VPP system. We are at an advanced stage in our plans to use the greater power of the new Fujitsu system to improve forecast accuracy by making better use of observational weather data, and also to make multiple forecasts of the global weather at higher resolution."

Dr. Yoshihiro Kosaka, Group President, High Performance Computing Group of Fujitsu, said, "Fujitsu Limited is pleased that ECMWF has selected Fujitsu's VPP systems as their next supercomputer. We believe that our worldwide supercomputer activities -- more than 250 systems now installed worldwide -- have led to his excellent evaluation from ECMWF. The contract is a clear indication that Fujitsu's vector parallel processor architecture and technology are ideally suited for the high performance mathematical modelling and data analysis of weather forecasting."

He continued, "We are exceptionally honoured by the selection of ECMWF where many top scientists and meteorologists are gathered from all over Europe. It is our corporate intention to continue our contribution to scientists worldwide to help investigate and resolve the problems of a global scale through the use of the most advanced computer technology."

Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Fujitsu Limited is the world's second-largest computer manufacturer and an international leader in telecommunications, semiconductors and other electronic devices. The Fujitsu Group, comprised of over 400 technology, software and service companies, posted global revenues of more than $36 billion last year.

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