SEATTLE, WA and READING, UNITED KINGDOM — Cray has announced a significant expansion to its research and development (R&D) team in Europe with the addition of key individuals from Gnodal Limited. Based in Bristol, England, prior to entering administration, Gnodal Limited was a recognized leader in high performance networks.
Through the agreement with the administrators of Gnodal Limited, Cray hired the vast majority of the company’s employees and has subsequently more than doubled the size of Cray’s R&D team in Europe. Further, Cray purchased the key intellectual property developed by the Gnodal team. The move strengthens Cray’s R&D presence in Europe, while adding highly-skilled engineers and intellectual property to help drive Cray’s future systems and complete ongoing R&D contracts.
“We are very excited that the founders and key engineers at Gnodal have decided to join Cray as part of our global R&D team,” said Dr. Ulla Thiel, Cray vice president, Europe. “Since the launch of the Cray Exascale Research Initiative in Europe in 2009, Cray has steadily expanded its R&D base in Europe. Today we have highly-talented software developers at the Cray Europe Exascale Center and at several Cray Centers of Excellence across Europe, and we are now adding significant hardware and software development to our activities in Europe.”
Over the past 12 months, Cray has announced several major supercomputing wins in Europe, with large Cray XC30 supercomputers for ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts), Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), the UK National Supercomputing Facility (ARCHER) hosted by the University of Edinburgh, the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS), and two systems in Berlin and Hannover for the North German Supercomputing Alliance (HLRN).
Cray’s purchase from Gnodal Limited was limited to the assignment of certain intellectual property rights including patents and design copyrights. In turn, Cray hired the vast majority of Gnodal Limited’s employees, who will now be working at Cray to develop new technology. Cray did not purchase the ongoing business operations of Gnodal Limited, nor any of its stock in trade or accounts.
