Cray Computer Founder Joins Microsoft

Microsoft confirmed on Friday that Burton Smith, formerly the chief scientist for Cray, would be joining the company as a "technical fellow." Smith will work to expand Microsoft's efforts in parallel and high-performance computing, and would report to chief technical officier Craig Mundie.

Smith had worked with Cray since its inception as Tera Computer Co. in 1988. He has also published several works on issues regarding parallel computing. "As microprocessor technology continues to evolve over the next decade or so, we're going to see the capabilities of a supercomputer cluster on the desktop which will require a different software architecture," Mundie said. "Burton will be investigating how to develop software to benefit from the opportunities which multi-core multiprocessors will present."