Microsoft, Cray Partner to Give Azure Cloud Users Supercomputer Access

US-based supercomputer manufacturer Cray has partnered with Microsoft to bring its devices and storage system to the Azure Cloud platform.

"Using the enterprise-proven power of Microsoft Azure, customers are running their most strategic workloads in our cloud," Tech runch quoted Jason Zander, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Azure, as saying.

"By working with Cray to provide dedicated supercomputers in Azure, we are offering customers uncompromising performance and scalability that enables a host of new previously unimaginable scenarios in the public cloud.

"More importantly, we are moving customers into a new era by empowering them to use HPC and AI to drive breakthrough advances in science, engineering and health," Zander added.

Microsoft and Cray are looking at offering dedicated Cray systems in Microsoft's data centres so that Cray users can easily access the rest of the Azure cloud services.

Similarly, potential Cray users can now also get access to these machines without having to own and maintain a data centre themselves.

Each Cray system will be custom configured to match the individual customer's needs.

This might prove to be good news for people who wish to use Cray machines that are extremely expensive to even rent.

Since Cray's focus remains squarely on the high-performance computing needs of researchers in both academia and industry, the partnership could provide the potential users a cheaper option.