Absoft: Wood Lotz (313) 853-0050 Cray/Media: Steve Conway (612) 683-7133 Cray/Financial: Laura Merriam (612) 683-7395 CRAY RESEARCH, ABSOFT AGREEMENT TARGETS FORTRAN 90 SOFTWARE FOR PERSONAL COMPUTERS Consistent Software Environment From PCs To Supercomputers To Aid Scientists and Engineers EAGAN, Minn., and ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich., July 16, 1993 -- Cray Research, Inc. (NYSE:CYR) and Absoft Corporation today announced an agreement to develop software tools that would allow scientists and engineers to write programs on personal computers (PCs) and then run the programs compatibly on more powerful systems, including Cray Research supercomputers, the companies said. Under the joint agreement, Absoft will create, market and distribute versions of the Cray Fortran 90 (CF90) Compiler for high-performance desktop computers. Initial targets for the Absoft versions of the CF90 Compiler include: PCs based on Intel486 and Pentium processors, and the forthcoming series of PowerPC-based Macintoshes. The initial versions of these products are scheduled for release in mid-1994, and will be marketed by both Cray and Absoft, as well as Absoft's worldwide network of more than 500 commercial software resellers. Financial terms of the worldwide, non-exclusive agreement were not disclosed. Fortran 90 is the next generation of Fortran, the most widely used programming language for scientific and technical computing. The CF90 Compiler is a full implementation of the new Fortran 90 standards set by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the International Standards Organization (ISO). According to Wood Lotz, president of Absoft, "the CF90 Compiler differs from other Fortran 90 compiler products in three ways: first, it is a native product, not a preprocessor; second, it is a robust, full implementation of the standards; and third, it is more mature in its evolution." In the new CF90 Compiler products Absoft will develop, front-end technology from the Cray compiler will be integrated with Absoft optimizers, code generators and native graphical user interfaces for the targeted PC environments, he said. As a result of this agreement, Fortran 90 programmers will have access to the same programming environment from desktop systems to supercomputers, greating enhancing portability and productivity, said Leary Gates, manager of the CraySoft program, which oversees Cray software technology development for non-Cray systems. "More than one-third of our users now access Cray supercomputers from PCs or Macintoshes," he said. "Providing the same compiler software on different hardware systems creates source-level compatibility,' allowing programs to operate on any of the systems without modification." "This is the first time that Cray Research compiler technology will be adapted for PCs and Macintoshes," Gates said. "Absoft's 10 years of experience developing high-quality, high- performance Fortran 77 compilers for the most popular desktop systems fits well with Cray's strategy of extending our software technologies into the broader marketplace. Absoft's established international distribution channels are geared toward the same scientific and technical computing market we serve." "Many of our customers have requested a Fortran 90 product, and we have long been committed to the multi-platform solution concept," said Lotz. "Fortran users are all creating and utilizing the same types of programs, regardless of the machine they are using. Cray's software division has more experience in developing Fortran compilers than any other computer manufacturer in the world, and many of our customers are already networked to Crays, so the relationship is natural and synergistic." Gates said the CF90 Compiler products will support scalar, vector, and parallel processing. "Although today's PCs can't tackle vector or parallel processing, these compiler products will allow applications to be created on PCs that will operate in vector and parallel mode on larger systems that have these capabilities." He said the CF90 Compiler products will support the versatile features of the Cray Fortran 77 Compiler--such as optimization, vectorization, microtasking and Autotasking (automatic parallelization)--along with common industry extensions to Fortran. Gates said the CF90 Compiler will make its debut later this year on the company's own line of CRAY Y-MP and CRAY C90 supercomputer systems. Cray Research plans later to make versions of the CF90 Compiler available on leading workstation products. In addition, the company recently announced an agreement with Paris-based Advanced Computer Research International (ACRI) to develop versions of the CF90 Compiler for European parallel processing systems. Absoft Corp., based in Rochester Hills, Mich., is a privately held company that develops, markets and distributes compilers and debuggers for desktop systems worldwide. Cray Research creates the most powerful, highest-quality computational tools for solving the world's most challenging scientific and industrial problems. ### Intel486 and Pentium are trademarks of Intel Corp. Macintosh is a trademark of Apple Computer Corp. PowerPC is a trademark of IBM Corp.