Fujitsu Laboratories' Fellow Kenichi Miura Wins Seymour Cray Award

Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. today announced that Dr. Kenichi Miura, Fellow of Fujitsu Laboratories and director of the Center for Grid Research and Development at Japan's National Institute of Informatics (NII), recently won the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)'s 2009 Seymour Cray Computer Engineering Award.

The Seymour Cray Computer Engineering Award is presented to individuals who have innovatively contributed to the development of high-performance computing systems. It is one of the IEEE Computer Society's(1) most prestigious awards.

Dr. Miura was recognized for his leadership in developing the foundational technology for vector supercomputer hardware and software. He is the second Japanese scientist to win the award.

Fujitsu plans to further build upon the supercomputer technology pioneered by Dr. Miura to develop world-class supercomputers, including Japan's Next-Generation Supercomputer.

Background

Since joining Fujitsu Limited in 1973, Dr. Miura has made significant contributions to the design of Fujitsu's supercomputers. He has been involved in the development of supercomputer hardware and software, including Fujitsu's VP Series of vector supercomputers, and showed how vectorizing compilers(2) can effectively take advantage of hardware architecture. Additionally, with deep knowledge of numerical algorithms and applications, Dr. Miura helped design systems for high-speed execution of real scientific computational applications.

Between 2003 and 2008, Dr. Miura leveraged his experience with Fujitsu's supercomputing technology as project leader of the NII's National Research Grid Initiative to develop grid middleware in Japan. He is currently working to promote grid middleware.

The IEEE Computer Society said in a statement that Dr. Miura received the Seymour Cray Computer Engineering Award "for leadership in developing groundbreaking vector supercomputing hardware and software."

About Seymour Cray Award

The Seymour Cray Computer Engineering Award was established in honor of Seymour Cray, a pioneer in supercomputer development. It is presented to individuals whose innovative contributions to high-performance computing systems best exemplify the creative spirit demonstrated by Seymour Cray. It is one of the IEEE Computer Society's most prestigious awards.

Dr. Miura is the second Japanese scientist to win the award, continuing the tradition set by Tadashi Watanabe, project leader of the Next-Generation Supercomputer R&D Center of Japan's Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN). Fujitsu works closely with RIKEN in Japan's Next-Generation Supercomputer Project.

The award ceremony is scheduled to be held at the Oregon Convention Center on November 18 beginning at 10:30AM (local time) during the SC09 supercomputing conference (starting November 14) in Portland, Oregon.

Comment from Dr. Kenichi Miura

"I am both surprised and delighted to receive the distinguished Seymour Cray Computer Engineering Award. This award honors Fujitsu's achievements to date in developing supercomputers, and I am accepting it on behalf of all the engineers who have been involved in these efforts. I have been involved in a variety of supercomputer-related projects beginning with the parallel computers research in 1968 at the University of Illinois's Computer Science Department in the United States, and I hope in the future to continue contributing to the advancement of the world's supercomputers."

Notes

1 IEEE Computer Society:A technical society within the IEEE organization that conducts activities related to the field of computer science.

2 Vectorizing Compiler:Development software used to build optimized programs for vector supercomputers.

About Fujitsu

Fujitsu is a leading provider of IT-based business solutions for the global marketplace. With approximately 175,000 employees supporting customers in 70 countries, Fujitsu combines a worldwide corps of systems and services experts with highly reliable computing and communications products and advanced microelectronics to deliver added value to customers. Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.6 trillion yen (US$47 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009. For more information, please see: www.fujitsu.com.

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