ACADEMIA

Silicon Graphics recently completed the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2005, which included industry recognition and accolades for SGI visualization, server, and storage solutions and key global sales wins across target markets. SGI extended its family of Silicon Graphics Prism visualization systems with a new deskside model-starting under $8,500, thus answering the growing demand for more visualization capability in the hands of scientists and engineers using Linux to solve problems personal computers (PCs) can't handle. In addition, at National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference in April, Silicon Graphics Prism was named one of the Top 10 products of NAB by Digital Cinema Report. In the high-performance computing sector, the famed Top500 list of the world's most powerful computers, which is complied by the University of Mannheim, University of Tennessee and NERSC/LBNL, ranked an SGI Altix system as the third fastest system on the planet, while five SGI systems ranked in the list's top 10 percent. Also in the quarter, SGI and ESI Group pushed scalability to new extremes, enabling users to run a crash simulation model eight times larger than today's standard industry practice. Once again on the leading edge of storage technology, SGI installed the industry's first 4Gbit per second fibre channel storage arrays, which offers two times the storage performance of industry standard solutions. In addition, to improve data access and workflow for manufacturing companies, SGI and MSC Software Corporation unveiled a powerful, integrated storage solution to streamline and accelerate virtual product development reducing the time spend waiting for data by 27x. Customers Among the customer highlights this quarter were: * ALSTOM, a global leader in power generation and rail transport infrastructure, selected SGI solutions for upgrades to its server and storage environment. ALSTOM's facility in Vaxjo, Sweden runs complex fluid analysis codes in the development of new gas turbine and power systems. ALSTOM chose a 12-processor SGI Altix 350 server with 24GB of memory and an SGI InfiniteStorage TP900 scratch disk array over a white box cluster based on AMD Opteron processors. * To help Department of Defense users with their big data requirements, the Aeronautical Systems Center Major Shared Resource Center at Wright- Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, has enhanced its computing and storage power with the installation of a 2.048-processor SGI Altix supercomputer and a 130TB SGI InfiniteStorage TP9700 storage array, the first RAID array available on the market. ASC MSRC will use the new system to aid weapon systems design of innovative materials; advance design concepts, improve and speed modification programs, increase high fidelity simulations and enable more efficient tests and evaluations. * Capital FX, one of the UK's leading post-production companies, selected SGI InfiniteStorage as the solution for their new digital intermediate facility, based in London. The facility will enable the ability to complete the film making process from the digitization of raw shot rushes, through color grading, dust busting, editing, compositing and film write out. Installing SGI's InfiniteStorage RM SAN with CXFS, means that Capital FX are able to centralize their digital workflow, whilst allowing multiple operations to happen at the same time and reducing the requirement to copy data -- critical in this market, where a 90 minute feature film in 4k resolution generates 16TB of data. * As part of its implementation of a digital storage and production environment, Netherlands post-production facility CIRIS acquired SGI storage and server solutions to enable CIRIS customers to store, search, browse and access broadcast and other content remotely. To provide a foundation for its Dynamic Platform project -- the first phases focused on implementing the server and storage infrastructure and an asset management system -- CIRIS purchased a 30TB SGI InfiniteStorage TP9300S storage array with a four- processor, 6GB SGI Altix server, and a six-channel SGI Media Server for broadcast solution with an InfiniteStorage array. SGI partner Ardendo will provide media asset management components, and will work with SGI Professional Services on custom integration and development. * To drive seismic analysis and geophysical depth studies at the Eni Exploration and Production Division of the Italian energy company Eni S.p.A, SGI sold a 64-processor SGI Altix 3700 supercomputer with 128GB of memory. The Altix system offers a global shared-memory solution with support for an industry-standard 64-bit Linux operating environment capable of scaling as a large single system. * HPC requirements at the School of Computational Sciences at George Mason University continue to escalate as researchers run a broad range of applications, from complex explosion analysis codes to earth system modeling studies. To address these needs, the University purchased an SGI Altix 3700 Bx2 supercomputer, powered by 64 processors and 128GB of memory supported by a 10TB SGI InfiniteStorage TP9300 RAID array. The SGI purchase represents the start of a three-year initiative to build a high-performance computing center designed to serve faculty and researchers in a wide variety of disciplines. * The German Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute (BAW) conducts research and development on a broad array of engineering projects relating to Germany's federal waterways. To drive an ever-more complex array of custom and commercial computational fluid dynamics applications, BAW purchased two SGI Altix supercomputers, one driven by 256 Intel Itanium 2 processors and the other by 48 processors. The configuration totals 304GB of globally addressable memory and 7TB of local disk storage and is integrated into BAW's HPC environment via SGI InfiniteStorage Shared Filesystem CXFS. * To meet the computing power needed for building ships to safely deliver goods and products, including liquefied petroleum products, Hyundai Heavy Industry (HHI), the number one ship building maker in the world with a twelve percent industry market share, has deployed an SGI(R) Altix(R) 350 server with eight Intel Itanium 2 processors. * To share high-definition video data for news production, the Image Graphics Department at Korea Broadcasting System (KBS), the No. 1 nationwide broadcasting system in Korea, selected an SGI storage area network (SAN) solution. KBS purchased a four-processor SGI Origin 350 server, SGI InfiniteStorage Shared Filesystem CXFS, and 5TB of SGI InfiniteStorage RM660 storage. KBS selected SGI technology because of the SGI RM660 system's high bandwidth and stability and, most importantly because SGI CXFS allows file sharing among multiple vendors' non-linear editors, including Autodesk's Discreet, Apple and Quantel systems. A long time SGI customer, KBS also uses SGI technology to make its broadcasts publicly available, through KBS Life Information Archiving System, to interactive media, including the Internet, PDAs, DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting), and mobile phones. * To achieve 3D visualization of electron microscopy data from molecular biology, Max-Planck-Institut fur Biochemie, in Martinsried, Germany, purchased a Silicon Graphics Prism system with 24 Intel Itanium 2 processors, eight graphics pipes, two compositors, and 192GB memory in mid-May. Installed in late June, it is direct-attached to SGI InfiniteStorage TP9300, with 14 146GB FibreChannel drives. Because of the system's unique features, including eight graphics processors, scalability and large shared memory, long-time SGI customer Max-Plank-Institut only considered SGI for a high-performance data processing and visualization system running the 64-bit Linux OS environment, a requirement for their in-house-developed software, based on amira visualization software. The Silicon Graphics Prism visualization system will, for the first time, enable 3D visualization of complete data sets obtained with a state-of-the-art electron microscope in operation at the Institute. * McLaren Racing, the company behind Team McLaren Mercedes, designs race cars for one of the most successful Formula One teams in history. To generate and analyze designs that help McLaren Formula One cars run faster than ever before, McLaren purchased a 1,256-processor SGI Altix 3700 Bx2 supercomputer with 1TB of memory; two Silicon Graphics Prism visualization systems, each powered by 16 processors and four graphics pipes; and a 16TB SGI InfiniteStorage storage area network with InfiniteStorage Shared Filesystem CXFS and VizServer capabilities. * To provide a platform for new and more powerful ways to analyze environmental data NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center upgraded its computing and data management capabilities with SGI server and storage solutions. With the new SGI systems, Goddard engineers can leverage the latest codes from NASA to achieve a faster time-to-solution. Among the first projects scheduled for Goddard's new SGI resources is an initiative to reanalyze 30 years of Earth weather and climate data captured by satellites. The Maryland-based NASA facility acquired an additional compute and storage solution incorporating three SGI(R) Altix(R) 3000 systems with a total of 1,024 Intel Itanium 2 processors and 2TB of global shared-memory, and the ability to store and manage another 200TB of data via an SGI InfiniteStorage storage area network with the SGI InfiniteStorage shared filesystem CXFS. * As researchers throughout Ireland struggle to analyze rapidly growing data sets, the National University of Ireland, Galway has added to its SGI computing resources with a 24-processor SGI Altix server and a Silicon Graphics Prism deskside visualization system with the help from funding agencies Science Foundation Ireland and the HEA. Working together, the two systems will be used on a wide variety of applications ranging from bio- medical simulations of stents and other implants, through to astrophysical plasmas. The Prism system will assist with collaborative data-mining and visualization problems associated with the National Seabed Survey, allowing researchers to visually inspect and interpret data runs. The Silicon Graphics Prism system will also aid in the University's pursuit of other collaborative visualization projects. * NBA Entertainment engaged SGI as a vendor partner to create the No. 1 high-tech powerhouse in the world of sports. Key to the relationship is the acquisition of SGI InfiniteStorage solutions to develop a data warehouse accommodating 50TB of content, allowing NBA Entertainment's broadcast production facility to instantly capture every play, categorize it, and store it for fast and easy retrieval. The SGI InfiniteStorage NAS 2000 solution also incorporates the StorageTek SL8500 tape library. * ORF, Austria's public service broadcaster, offers a wide range of TV and radio programs to its audience and produces thousands of hours of original TV and radio programming, and receives thousands more via satellite. ORF also operates an extensive digital archive and Internet site. Seeking to establish a standards-based, central editing storage infrastructure for 15 Pinnacle Systems editing stations, ORF purchased four SGI Altix 350 mid-range servers to act as network-attached storage (NAS) servers for a 14TB SGI InfiniteStorage RM660 solution. Connected via SGI InfiniteStorage shared filesystem CXFS, the 15 non-linear editing (NLE) systems will share the storage resources, with help from SGI networked editing software and two Omneon video servers. Eventually, 30 NLEs will share the media data store. * One of the world's leading defense technology companies, Qinetiq recently acquired an SGI server and storage solution to drive complex finite element analysis applications for designing and testing new technologies for use in military, homeland security and commercial applications. After an exhaustive competitive benchmarking process, Qinetiq selected a 64-processor SGI Altix system with 256GB of RAM and a 6TB InfiniteStorage TP9300 array backed by SGI InfiniteStorage Data Migration Facility (DMF) solution. Qinetiq also appointed SGI as official supplier for HPC. * For developing visualization solutions that enable concept studies and virtual tests of new prototypes Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (FFI), the main research institute for the Norwegian defense, acquired recently a Silicon Graphics Prism visualization system with four Intel Itanium 2 processors, two graphics pipes and 4GB of memory. Vital to the selection of SGI over standard PC-based graphics solutions were the Silicon Graphics Prism system's leading performance, shared-memory architecture, high internal bandwidth, and support for a standard 64-bit Linux environment. * To meet current storage requirements for scanning of 4K film and ensure scalability for future needs, Pacific Title installed into its SAN infrastructure a second SGI InfiniteStorage TP9700 Fibre Channel array. * Saarlaendischer Rundfunk (SR), a public broadcaster in southwestern Germany, has awarded SGI the contract for Phase One of its transition to a complete, integrated digital workflow for TV programming production and play- out and archiving of TV and radio material. In June, SR ordered four SGI Media Server for Broadcast systems, a SGI InfiniteStorage NAS system with 22TB total storage for online/editing storage consisting of three SGI InfiniteStorage TP9700 systems, 27TB of near-line and tape-based storage managed by SGI Data Migration Facility (DMF), upgradeable to 65TB in Phase 2, and SGI networked editing software for efficient video editing workflows to shorten time-to-air. The SGI hardware and software will integrate with SGT media management and automation software, a Dalet OpenMedia newsroom computer system, and six Pinnacle liquid non-linear editing systems (an additional six editors are planned for the second phase). Trial operation is expected to commence in July 2006. * To address the data access, storage and management needs generated by users of its multiple SGI supercomputers, the High Performance Computing group at SARA, the Dutch National HPC and Networking Center, recently purchased a 50TB SGI InfiniteStorage TP9300S solution. More than tripling HPC's SAN based disk storage capacity, the new acquisition will be integrated with SARA's existing storage environment. The acquisition is part of SARA's goal of creating a host-independent storage environment built around its SGI SAN with CXFS and DMF, allowing hosts to be replaced without impacting the storage environment. * The Scientifica Italiana's Unita' per l'Analisi del Crimine Violento Polizia, the Italian state police renowned for its ability to solve international murders, purchased an SGI Reality Center for its forensics laboratory. Believed to be the most advanced virtual reality theater dedicated to criminal analysis, this sophisticated computer system, will help investigators reproduce in 3D crime scenes, re-creating everything from the path of a bullet to the movement of a corpse with startling realism. The Reality Center is located at Rome's RiTriDEC (Ricostruzione Tridimensionale della Dinamica dell'Evento Criminale) laboratory. At the heart of the Reality Center is a six-processor SGI Onyx 350 InfiniteReality4 graphics system computer, which manages three Barco projectors, as well as the acoustic and stereoscopic systems. Images are displayed on an 18 x 7-foot floor-level screen, large enough to recreate the actual crime with startling realism. * Seimens Industrial Turbomachinery AB (SIT), in an effort to drive ever- more-complex finite element method structural analysis and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis applications, upgraded its existing SGI Altix supercomputer. By adding another 12 Intel Itanium 2 processors to its existing 48-processor Altix system, SIT is able to run an even broader range of memory-intensive applications, while efficiently accessing and managing its data via a previously installed 2.3TB SGI InfiniteStorage solution. * TBWA/France, part of the global advertising giant TBWA Worldwide, acquired SGI storage solutions to serve as a foundation for their XINET digital asset management and workflow environment. After evaluating products from various storage vendors, TBWA/France selected a 4TB SGI(R) InfiniteStorage TP9300 FibreChannel array, a 7TB TP9300 Serial ATA drive array, and an 11.2TB TP9300 Serial ATA array. In its selection process, TBWA/France sought reliable, expandable storage and data management solutions from a vendor capable of providing expert technical support. * The U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration installed two 512-processor SGI Altix supercomputers as part of the agency's Mid-Life Upgrade at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) in Princeton, N.J. This latest installation follows delivery in earlier this year of two 256-processor and one 512-processor SGI Altix supercomputers at GFDL, a federal research laboratory that performs comprehensive, long-lead- time climate research that is fundamental to the mission of NOAA. For over 40 years, GFDL has been one of the world's leading laboratories in using supercomputers and advanced numerical models to better understand the meteorology and oceanography of the planet. Raytheon Company is the prime integrator at NOAA's GFDL. * To harness the compute power of SGI shared memory architecture and easily port scientific codes to the open systems 64-bit Linux OS, the Department of Information Technology and the Research Division at Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg, VA, selected SGI compute and visualization technology for use as centralized resources available to all faculty and researchers. In April 2005, Virginia Tech, which consistently ranks among the top research institutions in the U.S., purchased a SGI Altix high performance computer with 64 Intel Itanium 2 processors and 256GB of memory. The system is up and running and already 100 percent booked by faculty researchers and graduate students, primarily in applied mathematics, high-altitude aerospace and mechanical engineering, and quantum chemistry, which is aiding drug discovery. Virginia Tech also purchased, in the same month, a Silicon Graphics Prism visualization system with four Intel Itanium 2 processors running Linux OS, 4GB of memory and two graphics pipes, to jump start a scientific visualization initiative for a planned immersive theater environment, and possibly a cave as well. * Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU), one of 11 Ontario universities on the growing Shared Hierarchical Academic Research Computing Network (SHARCNET) grid, has chosen an SGI Altix high-performance system that will be used for mathematical modeling (specifically, problems in computational science and financial mathematics requiring a large amount of memory), a variety of scientific research projects, and to share compute resources with other SHARCNET members. Dr. Roderick Melnik, Canada Research Chair, also acquired a Silicon Graphics Prism visualization system with four Intel Itanium 2 processors and two graphics pipes for visualizing large data sets at WLU. The University requested both the Silicon Graphics Prism system and the SGI Altix computer, with 256 GB memory and 128 Intel Itanium 2 processors, through a grant from Canada Foundation for Innovation. * To study complex geologic problems that active-source seismologists have not been able to study before, Wood's Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) purchased a Silicon Graphics Prism visualization system to complement a new ocean vessel that will collect 3D seismic data in much the same way oil companies do. The Silicon Graphics Prism system, with 16 Intel Itanium 2 processors, 32 MB memory and an InfiniteStorage TP9100 storage array, will visualize the 3D data collected by the ship to study numerous geological and biological earth processes, beginning with the area of plate tectonics known as subduction zones, where the earth fundamentally recycles itself and where the planet's biggest earthquakes occur. * To research and forecast life-threatening weather conditions, Yunnan University in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China, purchased a Silicon Graphics Prism visualization system with 16 Intel Itanium 2 processors and four graphics pipes. The system will be installed at The School of Resources Environment and Geoscience, Yunnan University, and will run Middle Scale Model (MM5) and Weather Forecasting Research (WFR) software. Professor Ju Jianhua will lead the research, relying on the Silicon Graphics Prism system's superior visualization quality to model and explore disaster weather in southwestern Yunnan Province, as well as Atlantic circulation and altiplano (high plateau) meteorology. Professor Jianhua also plans to use the results obtained from the Silicon Graphics Prism system to publish papers on climate, with topics such as the Asian Summer Monsoon and ENSO (El Nino/Southern Oscillation). The HPC Center of Yunnan University plans to leverage the high- performance computing and graphics capabilities of the Silicon Graphics Prism system for research throughout the university including material sciences, life sciences, drug discovery, non-linear sciences, computer graphics and computational fluid dynamics. The Center is also planning to set up a Reality Center facility powered by a Silicon Graphics Prism system within a year.