NEC Awarded Contract for New Earth Simulator System

NEC schedules a two-fold increase in effective application performance over existing Earth Simulator to better contribute to global environmental initiatives

Tokyo, May 12, 2008 - NEC Corporation today announced that it has been awarded the contract to build the "new Earth Simulator" ultra high-speed computing system for the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC).

The new Earth Simulator system will see an upgrade of the existing Earth Simulator * , which has significantly contributed to the development of a simulation culture in the area of earth sciences and related technical fields, and introduce new features to deliver accurate and high-speed analysis and projections of global-scale environmental phenomena. The system will also be used to produce numerical simulations for advanced research fields that are beyond the scope of other computing systems.

The new system principally consists of a main system supercomputer, sub-system units and an operation management system, and is designed to deliver a system-wide peak performance of 131TFLOPS (TFLOPS: one trillion floating point operations per second). Effective application performance is scheduled to increase two-fold on the existing Earth Simulator. The new system will be installed in the simulator building at JAMSTEC's Yokohama Institute for Earth Sciences and is expected to commence operation in March 2009.

Deployment of the new Earth Simulator will produce ultra-high speed simulations to more accurately understand and predict complicated environmental effects, such as global warming, atmospheric and marine pollution, El Nino, torrential rainfall and the progress of typhoons. These outcomes are expected to aid the development of economic and social activities, help solve global environmental problems, advance our understanding of terrestrial phenomena such as tectonics and earthquakes, and continue the work of the existing Earth Simulator in supporting the efforts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ** .

The new Earth Simulator has world-wide significance for Japan and NEC is extremely honored to be involved in such an important project. NEC believes the new contract is recognition of the company's superior performance in delivering advanced supercomputers that leverage years of technological excellence to a multitude of vector users, including the original Earth Simulator project.

The new Earth Simulator is part of NEC's continuing efforts to help solve global environmental problems and contribute to the development of computational science and technology. Notes* Earth SimulatorAn ultra high-speed vector parallel computing system developed by NASDA, JAERI, and JAMSEC. The system quantitatively analyzes and predicts atmospheric and marine changes, as well as changes in the earth's core.

Since commencement of operations in March 2002, the system has aimed to help protect people and property from natural disasters, aid proper management of resources and the environment in the face of climate change, and provide support for sound economic activities in an effort to contribute to the sustained development of mankind through the coexistence of man and nature. The system has so far proved instrumental in the development of a simulation culture in the area of earth sciences and related technical fields. ** Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change An intergovernmental organization made up of international experts that collects and coordinates scientific research on global warming.

As a scientific body, the panel evaluates the latest information on global warming and provides assessments of scientific data related to the viability and outcomes of mitigation technology and policies, and in the absence of any action, the projected detrimental effects. The panel issues an assessment report at regular intervals to determine the state of scientific knowledge on climate change, drawing on the research of thousands of experts from all over the world. This report holds considerable sway over global politics and national policies.