CRAY COMPUTER GMBH

Their core work

Cray Computer GmbH is the Swiss subsidiary of Cray Inc. (now part of Hewlett Packard Enterprise), a world-renowned manufacturer of supercomputers and high-performance computing (HPC) systems. In H2020 projects, they contribute HPC infrastructure, parallel computing expertise, and performance optimization know-how to research consortia tackling computationally intensive problems — from energy system modeling to workflow middleware. Their value lies in ensuring that research code actually runs efficiently on large-scale computing architectures.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Cray's H2020 involvement spans a short window (2017–2019 project starts), so evolution is modest but visible. Early projects (Plan4Res, MINOA) focused on traditional HPC applications — running large numerical optimizations on supercomputer hardware. Later projects (MAESTRO, SODALITE) shifted toward the software layer: workflow middleware, infrastructure-as-code, and making HPC resources easier to deploy and manage programmatically.

Cray moved from providing raw computing power toward making HPC accessible through better software abstractions and automated infrastructure management — reflecting the broader industry shift toward cloud-HPC convergence.

How they like to work

Cray never coordinated an H2020 project — they consistently joined as a participant, partner, or third party, providing specialized HPC capabilities to consortia led by others. With 42 unique partners across 11 countries from just 4 projects, they operate in large, diverse consortia rather than tight bilateral collaborations. This is typical for an infrastructure provider: many groups need their resources, but Cray's role is to enable others' research rather than drive the scientific agenda.

Despite only 4 projects, Cray built connections with 42 unique partners across 11 countries, reflecting the large consortium sizes typical of energy and ICT research projects. Their network spans Western and Central Europe with no single dominant geographic cluster.

What sets them apart

Cray is one of very few supercomputer manufacturers participating directly in H2020 consortia, giving partners access to world-class HPC architecture expertise — not just compute time, but deep knowledge of how to optimize code for massively parallel systems. For consortium builders, Cray brings instant credibility on the computing infrastructure side and can bridge the gap between prototype algorithms and production-scale execution. Their dual focus on hardware performance and software-defined infrastructure makes them valuable for projects that need both raw power and usability.

Highlights from their portfolio

• Plan4Res
  Largest funded project (EUR 313K), tackling pan-European energy system optimization — a massive computational challenge well-suited to Cray's HPC strengths.
• SODALITE
  Signals Cray's strategic shift toward software-defined infrastructure and IaC optimization, moving beyond traditional hardware provision.
• MINOA
  Mixed-integer non-linear optimization is among the hardest computational problems — Cray's involvement highlights their role in solving industrially relevant math at scale.