The Australian Signals Directorate is set to benefit from improved access to services for its ageing Cray supercomputer.
The Department of Defence last month entered a five-year standing offer with the vendor for the sole purpose of helping ASD better access HPC technical expertise.
“This is a new standing offer which replaces previous service contracts and will provide a more efficient and effective means of engaging these services through a single procurement arrangement,” a Defence spokesperson told iTnews.
ASD received its Cray supercomputer in March 2010 to provide more and faster intelligence for handling cyber incidents and threats.
The $14.5 million custom-built supercomputer was at the time said to be the first major intelligence capability delivered in response to the 2009 Defence White Paper.
The department has signed a number of contracts - worth in excess of $2.6 million - with Cray since last year for supercomputing upgrades and services to support the cluster.
Cray’s relationship with ASD – and DSD before it – began in 1986 when it provided Australia’s first supercomputer to DSD.
Cray also provides the Bureau of Meteorology with its supercomputer.
