Cray XMS

The first of the air cooled supermini Cray computers originally developed by Supertec and acquired by Cray Research. The XMS was a clone of the X-MP architecture implemented in CMOS technology.

” The Instruction Unit executes the Cray X-MP instruction set, enabling programs currently running on a Cray XMP to be used without modification on the XMS.”

The XMS, being a small machine, was a huge step for Cray Research. Used to building a small number of very expensive machine this system was the first step into departmental compute servers. Whilst not a big commercial or reliability success this machine changed the target market for Cray systems. This machine was succeeded by the Cray EL.

Cray Research and Dutch organisation develop petroleum exploration software

Cray Research announced in July 1991 that it has signed an agreement in principal with the Dutch research organization TNO (Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek), Delft, The Netherlands, to jointly develop a new generation of commercial seismic application software for the petroleum industry.  The resulting software will make seismic modeling on high-performance computers more accurate and useful in the discovery of oil and gas.

As part of the agreement, Cray Research will provide a CRAY XMS computer system, to DELSI, as the project is named. The system will be used as a platform for the development of commerical products based on prototype software developed by DELPHI, a seismic data processing research project headed by A. ]. Berkhout at the Delft University of Technology. Cray Research has been associated with the DELPHI project fo r the past five years and is one of the 22 sponsoring corporations.

To help broaden the use of high-performance computing at all levels of the petroleum industry, three portions of prototype software code have been identified for commercialization. They are model-based algorithmic approaches, which focus on seismic energy to discern detailed geological characteristics of the potential hydrocarbon reservoirs. 

Using the CRAY XMS system, the DELSI team will make these codes easier to use through enhancements, applying IEEE standards, writing software documentation, and executing case studies.

The CRAY XMS system will be installed at TNO and, through a high-speed network, linked to the CRAY Y-MP system located at SARA (StichtingAcademisch Rekencentrum Amsterdam), the Netherlands national supercomputer center The DELSI project will make the commercialized software available on Cray Research’s entire product line of high-performance computers.

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