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MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- SGI (NYSE: SGI) and vizrt today announced that Wige Data delivered a virtual sets package powered by two Silicon Graphics® Onyx2® visualization systems and vizrt's viz [virtual studio](TM) software to German public television broadcasters ARD and ZDF for production and live coverage of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. The Games are being held in Salt Lake City, Utah, Feb. 8 through Feb. 24. Using four video feeds into vizrt's viz [virtual studio] set deployed on the Silicon Graphics Onyx2 visualization systems with InfiniteReality2(TM) graphics, ARD (Allgemeiner Rundfunk Deutschlands) and ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) are showcasing four different locations simultaneously to introduce viewers to event venues. The virtual sets are also being used to air interviews with on-site commentators. Reaching all of Germany, ARD and ZDF are each broadcasting on their main channels, and alternately airing eight hours daily, delivering more than 300 hours of Olympics coverage. During the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, the channels reported approximately 6.5 million viewers during the top events. Other sports events, such as soccer championships, can draw more than 20 million viewers to the stations. To provide their viewers with stunning graphics and realistic virtual sets for their Olympics programming, ARD and ZDF looked to Wige Data, headquartered in Leipzig, Germany (www.wige-data.de), a division of Wige Media AG headquartered in Frechen, Germany. Wige Data is one of the world's leading providers of sport data processing and result services including timing, scoring, measurement, TV graphics and virtual technologies. Wige Data's scope of services includes complex Internet services, live streaming services, live results and interactive database services, as well as individually tailored hardware and software solutions for sports events of almost any kind. ``We chose vizrt's software because it exactly meets Wige Data's requirements for virtual-related basic technologies,'' said Dr. Uwe Greif, marketing director of Wige Data. ``However, hardware reliability is another aspect that Wige Data has to take into account while implementing its service at huge sports events all over the world. The extraordinarily precise compatibility and fit of SGI hardware and vizrt software is one of the key factors that made the decision easy for us. The successful combination of SGI hardware, vizrt software and Wige Data sport-specific applications is becoming more and more of a standard within the world of virtual support for nearly all kinds of sporting events.'' ``We are very pleased that Wige Data is using our product, viz [virtual studio], to deliver such an important event to German television audiences nationwide,'' said Isaac Hersly, vice president of marketing, vizrt. ``viz[virtual studio] is the only scalable, open and complete family of integrated solutions for virtual studio production in the market today. Running on the powerful Onyx2, viz [virtual studio] will deliver the highest quality visual images to the most challenging of productions, the Olympics.'' ``SGI is very gratified that Wige Data, on behalf of German public television broadcasters, has chosen to rely on proven SGI technology,'' said Jason Danielson, director of Media Industries, SGI. ``The Silicon Graphics Onyx2 visualization system, with its open, scalable and high-bandwidth SGI NUMA architecture, combines supercomputing performance and superior visualization technologies to process 3D graphics, 2D imaging and video data in real time. This is a perfect fit with vizrt's open and scalable viz [virtual studio], and the robust combination will deliver the powerful visual impact Wige Data's customers expect.'' For more information visit www.sgi.com