Phillips Petroleum to install first Cray T3E-1350Seattle 07 August 2000 hillips Petroleum Company has signed a $3.6 million order for the first Cray T3E-1350 system, a faster model of the product line that holds the current world record for computer problem-solving speed. Phillips will use the new supercomputer to help find new oil deposits and lower exploration and development costs. The 136-processor Cray T3E-1350 supercomputer will be installed at Phillips' Bartlesville, Okla. headquarters facility in August, and is expected to complete the customer acceptance process by late September.
The new system replaces a 64-processor Cray T3E-900
supercomputer and will be used to run advanced, 3-D seismic processing
applications that detect untapped oil deposits in hard-to-explore
areas. The Cray T3E-1350 system will allow Phillips to apply advanced
seismic imaging methods over larger areas and with greater resolution
and accuracy than before.
The new system features faster, 675 MHz processors each rated at
1.35 billion calculations per second, larger memory, and enhanced
interprocessor and memory bandwidth. Phillips' Cray T3E-1350
supercomputer will have 84 gigabytes of memory.
The Cray T3E-1350 series is fully compatible with all earlier
models of the Cray T3E product line. The Cray T3E system was
awarded the prestigious Gordon Bell Prize for achieving the current
world-record sustained speed of more than one trillion calculations
per second on a real-world, 64-bit application. The Cray T3E system
outperforms other vendors' scalable systems, even those with higher
theoretical (``peak'') performance, because the Cray T3E is designed as
a large, efficient single system, rather than a less-efficient
``cluster'' that links together separate smaller computers.
``Finding still-hidden oil deposits is increasingly challenging,
especially as we explore in deep-water environments in the presence of
complex geological formations, such as salt layers that distort
seismic data,'' said Paul Valasek, project manager for the seismic
imaging group at Phillips Petroleum. ``We use Cray technology to run
massive seismic imaging applications that correct this distortion and
help us to 'see' the geological strata more clearly and help reduce
risk in well placement.''
Kay Wyatt, research leader in seismic imaging and multi-component
technologies, also comments that, ``We are using the Cray technology to
assist us in defining more than just the structural aspects of the
earth. Advanced technologies, such as multi-component seismic, let us
better understand the rock and fluid properties of the geologic strata
as well.''
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