SGI Raises Bar for Visual Simulation Community at I/ITSEC 2002

ORLANDO, Fla., I/ITSEC 2002 -- Leveraging recent successes on U.S. training and simulation programs like F-22, F-16 and Joint Strike Fighter, SGI will demonstrate this week at the annual Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) that the company continues to push the envelope when it comes to providing world-class image generation and host computing solutions. SGI will also highlight new products that dramatically address industry price/performance challenges. Only SGI offers industry-leading hardware and software products combined with no-risk, turnkey solutions that meet the requirements of the broad range of image generation customers. I/ITSEC takes place Dec. 2-5 in Orlando. "I/ITSEC is the premier conference and exhibition in the United States for civilian and military users, manufacturers, academics, and designers of equipment and services for training, simulation and education," said John Burwell, senior director of government industry, SGI. "Our close relationship with technology partners and the simulation and training community, marked by a legacy of technological development geared toward meeting customers' unique requirements, has allowed SGI to become the world leader in image generation and host computing solutions. SGI continues to develop its graphics technologies to satisfy a wide range of image generation requirements and will be demonstrating some breakout applications of this technology for command and control." At I/ITSEC 2002, SGI will demonstrate its industry-leading SGI(R) Onyx(R) 3000 series visualization system -- the highest level of system performance, graphics scalability and digital media features -- as well as the company's latest cost-reduced product, the SGI(R) Onyx(R) 300 visualization system. Both platforms feature the new InfiniteReality4(TM) graphics system which provides a breakthrough in price/performance and in visual realism for more-effective simulation and training enabled through increased fill rates and online texture memory that allows for greater model complexity, image-based rendering and full-scene 8 subsample anti-aliasing. "The new Onyx 300 system with InfiniteReality4 graphics is what the industry has been asking for. It offers the highest levels of fidelity and throughput SGI is known for, but at pricing levels competitive with PC-based systems. Our family of image generators and host computing solutions address today's complex training and simulation requirements, and with recent value engineering, they are now much more affordable. For the most advanced performance available, our high-end Onyx family-based IG solutions continue to set the standard in the industry," Burwell said. "These systems have introduced advanced features and technologies to enable realistic training over large image-based, geospecific databases. SGI modular and scalable systems also ensure maximum training value to meet a range of requirements with built-in investment protection, service and support provided by a global industry leader." SGI(R) image generation solutions provide industry-leading realism -- producing scenes free of distracting visual anomalies -- based on high-end SGI(R) Onyx(R) family visualization systems with software and services from MultiGen-Paradigm and displays from SEOS Displays Ltd. Today, visualization technology from SGI can be found in all segments of image generation including ground warfare, rotorcraft, driving and flight simulation. SGI first pioneered the idea of an immersive, collaborative 3D environment with SGI(R) Reality Center(TM), the world's leading collaborative computing environment, delivering the highest levels of realism, image quality and performance available. Continuing this technological innovation, SGI is leveraging these same immersive capabilities for a variety of military applications, such as command and control and homeland defense, where collaborative visualization technologies can help to better process and exploit the increasing deluge of information that is mission critical to warfare in the 21st century. Getting the right information to the right person at the right time is the challenge of network-centric warfare and SGI modeling and simulation technology, combined with a new concept known as Visual Area Networking (VAN), provides universal access to high-performance visualization using any client device running on existing high-speed data networks. Globally integrated decision making through VAN is now possible, enabling remote personnel to access data wherever the battlespace might be located and allowing collaboration up and down the chain of command in real time. With VAN, individual users and geographically dispersed teams can collaborate and have universal access to advanced visualization capabilities using any mix of client devices so that the right visual information can be sent to the right person at the right time, compressing the critical decision cycle and speeding up the time to insight. SGI will demonstrate its VAN concept at the I/ITSEC conference.