APPLICATIONS

Starbridge Systems today announced a strategic relationship with Silicon Graphics to further accelerate algorithm computation using field- programmable gate arrays, or FPGAs. SGI will provide Starbridge's Viva development software under a temporary license as part of its RASC (Reconfigurable Application-Specific Computing) development kit. The combined solution is capable of drastically decreasing compute time for computationally intensive applications over non-optimized systems. Starbridge will hold demonstrations of the collaborative system at its booth during SC|05 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking and Storage, November 12 - 18 in Seattle. "We are very pleased to be teaming up with Starbridge to provide the tools to make the power of FPGAs accessible to software developers, researchers, and hardware designers," said Ron Renwick, Configurable Computing Product Manager, SGI. "Our relationship with Starbridge makes high-performance reconfigurable computing accessible to the entry-level user as well as the power user." SGI RASC technology, combined with Viva, can drastically increase application performance over conventional systems, a solution that Starbridge has coined Hypercomputing. Viva unlocks the power of SGI RASC technology by allowing those that are not familiar with low-level FPGA development techniques to easily develop highly efficient, high-performance FPGA applications that run directly on SGI Altix servers and Silicon Graphics Prism visualization systems equipped with SGI RASC technology. Research institutions and government agencies have been searching for a way to rapidly accelerate large, computationally intensive applications or algorithms in order to decrease the time and expense required. FPGAs are recognized in the industry for their ability to handle millions of instructions per second in parallel fashion. However, up until now, FPGA development has required the use of low-level, text-based design languages, such as VHDL or Verilog, that were originally designed for circuitry layout rather than for high-performance or embedded computing. Starbridge's Viva development software's graphical user interface simplifies the development of complex, supercomputer-realm applications, providing a platform for creating reusable and expandable library objects written for numerical methods. "We are very excited that SGI chose Viva for its RASC development kit," said Kurt Dobson, CEO of Starbridge. "This is another proof-point that shows the industry has a need for a solution that accelerates the solving of complex applications and algorithms."