Cray XC Software to Feature Docker Container Capabilities

SEATTLE, WA--(Marketwired - Nov 17, 2015) - Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. (NASDAQ: CRAY) today announced it will deliver a high performance computing (HPC)-optimized Docker solution for the Cray® XC™ line of supercomputers. The new feature will be available to all Cray XC customers starting next month, and on the Cray CS400™, Cray XE™ and Cray XK™ platforms in 2016.

With Docker as part of Cray's official software distribution, Cray's customers will be able to implement software containers that package an entire software stack -- application codes, shared libraries, base operating system files, user environment variables, dependencies and more -- into easily-deployable images that contain everything an application needs to run with increased efficiency across multiple platforms. Docker containers for Cray XC systems are designed to provide better application portability and bring ease-of-use to running highly-scalable applications on advanced supercomputers.

Via an established Center of Excellence, Cray has collaborated with one of its key customers, the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), on a container project codenamed "Shifter," which is designed to extend Docker capabilities to HPC environments and all Cray XC series users. Through technology co-development efforts that were validated on the Cray XC30™ system nicknamed "Edison" at NERSC, the Cray-NERSC collaboration brings Docker container capabilities to large-scale supercomputing.

"Container computing, exemplified by Docker, is poised to revolutionize the way scientific and technical computing is carried out," said Shane Canon, project engineer for advanced systems technology at NERSC. "Having these capabilities on HPC platforms, like those from Cray, will lower the barriers for many workloads and will boost productivity. Containers can also help with the process of science itself, since it can ease reproducibility and simplify sharing. The partnership between NERSC and Cray is critical in taking this from a concept to reality for HPC platforms. While NERSC has been evangelizing the promise of containers, having a commercial vendor like Cray supporting this will enable this new paradigm to have greater reach and impact."