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The SGI(R) system will provide a powerful shared supercomputing resource for SERC researchers, helping to further discoveries in the areas of gene sequencing, gene mapping, computational fluid dynamics and other cutting-edge research projects. Intel will also support IISc with Intel(R) processor-based compilers and tools to enhance the performance of various applications developed by SERC. The system, which was presented today by Intel and SGI to SERC's chairman, Dr. S. M. Rao, at the Intel Developer Forum, will be upgraded to the next Intel Itanium 2 processor (code-named "Madison") later in the year. The SGI Altix 3000 system is a breakthrough Linux(R) solution that uniquely scales memory across all processors in all nodes in a cluster, so that users and their applications can efficiently use up to 16TB of shared-memory space -- an architectural capability called "global shared memory." Coupled with the Itanium 2 processor, the systems offer technical users world-record levels of performance with unprecedented price/performance and scalability in a standard Linux environment. "At SERC, we have always believed in having the best computing platforms for our scientific research needs," said Dr. Rao. "Our decision to buy the outstanding SGI Altix 3000 system, and also to upgrade it to the next Intel Itanium 2 processor, is keeping in tune with this belief. SGI and Intel are providing the scalability, raw performance and reliability that HPC users need to solve the large, complex problems of both science and industry." "The SERC deployment is an exciting high-performance computing initiative, and Intel applauds their decision to invest in open-standards-based supercomputing," said John Davies, vice president and director of Intel's Solutions Development Group. "Dozens of leading scientific institutions around the world have already switched to Itanium-based systems and are benefiting from the massive performance gains at a reduced cost. Intel is proud to work together with SGI to help researchers in India and around the world to make new discoveries and seek solutions to complex scientific problems." "The Altix system's raw performance and immense scalability, due to Intel Itanium 2 processors and SGI NUMAflex architecture, is the absolute right fit for SERC's computational needs. The price/performance of Altix is enhanced by its leverage of the Linux operating system. We are delighted to have IISc as our first customer for this system in India," said Prasad Medury, managing director, SGI India. SGI Altix 3000 Scaling New Heights The Altix 3000 family of servers and superclusters offers global shared memory, which is a first for Linux OS-based computing, thus bringing supercomputing capability to Linux users across all markets and applications. Altix can scale up to 64 processors in one node and to hundreds of processors today in a supercluster environment. The built-in interconnects are 200 times faster than existing traditional interconnects, thus delivering outstanding peak and sustained performance. SGI increases the Altix system's power by offering an advanced supercomputing software environment that includes the acclaimed SGI(R) CXFS(TM) (available summer 2003), high-performance shared filesystem, optimized programming and science libraries, and supercomputing data management tools. Future Intel Itanium 2 Processors Intel plans to release the Itanium 2 processor 6M (Madison) midyear 2003, with up to 6MB of level 3 cache and a top frequency of 1.50 GHz. The new processor is expected to deliver 30% to 50% higher performance than the current Itanium 2 processor. Other plans include the introduction of the low-voltage Itanium 2 processor (code-named "Deerfield") in the second half of this year. It features similar performance to today's Itanium 2 processors, but at half the power, for dual-processor high-performance computing and select front-end applications. Future products include an Itanium 2 processor with 9MB of L3 cache in 2004, followed by a dual-core processor in 2005 (code-named "Montecito"). Intel Gains HPC Ground in India At India's HPC Asia event in December 2002, Intel announced that leading Indian scientific, research and academic institutions are building Intel processor-based systems in order to take advantage of open, industry-standard technologies and ongoing price/performance improvements. This shift to industry-standard building blocks is part of a worldwide trend that has seen a dramatic increase in the number of Intel processor-based systems being used for HPC deployments.