Cheyenne, Wyoming Celebrates Construction of
the National Center for Atmospheric Research
Supercomputing Center
$70 Million Facility Will House One of World’s Fastest Supercomputers for Scientific Research;
Provides Advanced Computing Services to Scientists in Broad Range of Disciplines
June 15, 2010 12:33 PM Eastern Daylight Time
CHEYENNE, Wyo.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Cheyenne LEADS, the Cheyenne-Laramie County
Corporation for Economic Development, today celebrated the groundbreaking on the construction of the National
Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Supercomputing Center, which will house one of the world’s fastest
supercomputers for scientific research. Located on 24 acres west of Cheyenne, the $70 million facility will provide
advanced computing services to scientists across the nation in a broad range of disciplines, including: weather;
climate; oceanography; air pollution; space weather; computational science; energy productions; and carbon
sequestration. Construction is scheduled to be completed next summer with research starting early 2012.
According to the selection team, several factors contributed to choosing Cheyenne:
l Cool, dry climate at an altitude of 6,200 ft. eliminates the need for huge air-conditioning systems;
l Strategic location at the crossroads of I-80 and I-25, at major transportation and communication hubs,
including two major railroads;
l Access to national fiber optic networks along the I-80 corridor – a major electronic switching center with
many high-speed data services;
l Abundant power provided by Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power;
l Genuine enthusiasm and commitment of Cheyenne officials;
l Wyoming Legislature appropriating $20 million toward the project.
The supercomputing center, a project managed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR),
will house an estimated 1-1.5 petaflop supercomputer. One petaflop equals one quadrillion
(1,000,000,000,000,000) computer operations per second.
“We could get more co