Design & Reuse

ClearSpeed Technology and BAE Systems Sign Technology License Agreement


In a significant expansion of its strategy, ClearSpeed has licensed the design of its next generation processor to BAE Systems for use in the most demanding of environments – space

Bristol, UK – September 5, 2007 – ClearSpeed Technology, the world leader in coprocessors for compute acceleration, and BAE Systems, a leading global defense and aerospace company, today announced that they have signed an agreement under which BAE Systems will license the design of ClearSpeed’s next generation processor for inclusion in satellite systems. In addition, BAE Systems will gain access to ClearSpeed’s software development kit (SDK) for the purpose of adding new libraries relevant to satellite system design and deployment.

The agreement gives BAE Systems an embedded technology for deployment in the harsh environments that satellite systems must endure, by meeting stringent criteria for performance, energy efficiency, ease of programming, accuracy and reliability, each of which ClearSpeed met or exceeded.  This combination of features, including fault tolerance, has been developed by ClearSpeed in order to meet the intense demands of acceleration in high performance computing (HPC).

“To deploy and achieve sustained operation of systems in space sets the most challenging requirements, “ said George Nossaman, director of Advanced Digital Systems for BAE Systems. “Our ability to deliver ClearSpeed’s coprocessors to our space customers, with this technology’s unique combination of very high performance, power efficiency and full programmability will enable a major increase in mission capability for key civil, commercial and defensive space systems.”

As the base of its leadership in HPC acceleration, ClearSpeed is focused on delivering technology with a key set of attributes which are also relevant to areas of embedded processing. The agreement with BAE Systems marks ClearSpeed’s first extension into the embedded space. 

“Licensing our technology to a limited number of key partners has always been planned as part of our strategy, said Tom Beese, chief executive officer of ClearSpeed Technology. “To be chosen by BAE Systems for use in satellite systems is a clear demonstration of the versatility and robustness of our core technology in meeting the most intensive needs in multiple markets.” 

About Clearspeed

ClearSpeed Technology is a semiconductor company that develops massively parallel coprocessors and accelerator boards delivering unmatched performance per watt for high performance computing applications on industry standard systems. ClearSpeed has offices in San Jose, California and Bristol, UK and has 103 patents granted and pending. For more information, visit http://www.clearspeed.com/.