SGI today announced that the independently managed SGI User Group (SGIUG) will host a special panel of distinguished HPC industry executives on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2003 at 5:00p.m. at the Hyatt Regency, Phoenix, AZ. As SGI approaches the one-year anniversary of its widely acclaimed Linux® OS-based Altix™ systems, this elite gathering of prominent HPC visionary leaders will discuss the experiences of their organizations, from acquisition to implementation, of various configurations of SGI Altix systems, with many of them going on to realize record-breaking accomplishments. The panel will consist of Axel Berg, division manager for high performance computing at SARA Computing and Networking Services, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, the host site for the Dutch national supercomputing service; Walt Brooks, a 27-year veteran of NASA Ames and division chief of the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) division; Larry Eversole, deputy manager of high performance information technology at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL); Dan'l Pierce, senior manager, Computational Science, Mathematics and Computing Technology at The Boeing Company; and John Rawlins, director of supercomputing, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC). The panel is being held in conjunction with the international conference on high-performance computing and networking, SC2003, taking place at the Phoenix Civic Plaza Conventional Center, November 17-21, 2003. The panel members represent some of the leading HPC organizations being regularly cited for their accomplishments in pushing the envelope of high performance computing, and all have extensive experience in the acquisition and implementation of high-end computer systems, networks and supporting infrastructures. SGI has been experiencing overwhelming industry support since the introduction of the Altix supercomputer based on the Intel® Itanium® 2 processor, the Linux operating environment, and SGI's NUMAflex global shared memory architecture. This panel discussion to focus on recent accomplishments with the SGI Altix system comes only days after SGI was awarded six top spots in the 2003 HPCwire Innovation Awards, more than any other vendor including IBM and Sun, with the Altix 3000 family taking top honors in the reader's choice category as 'Most Innovative Overall HPC Technology'. The SGI Altix was also recently named "Favorite Server" in Linux Journal's annual Readers' Choice Awards, where more than 7,500 Linux users and developers cast votes for products in 28 categories, naming SGI Altix as the top choice among all Linux OS-based servers. More on the Panel Members Axel Berg - Division Manager for High Performance Computing at SARA Computing and Networking Services, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Berg's division has practical experience in the fields of optimization and parallelization of computer programs, the use of Grid technology, Storage Area Networking technology and building Linux clusters. Walt Brooks - Division Chief of the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at NASA Ames. Brooks oversees all high performance computing work done within the Advanced Supercomputing Division (NAS) at NASA Ames. A 27-year veteran at NASA Ames, Brooks is working to transform the vision, mission and direction of NAS with his focus on building collaborative relationships with other NASA groups, industry partners, and colleagues at universities and other government agencies. Larry Eversole - Deputy Manager, High Performance Information Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). JPL is a federally funded research and development facility managed by the California Institute of Technology for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. JPL has a long history in HPC handling extremely large data sets. Dan'l Pierce - Senior Manager, Computational Science, Mathematics and Computing Technology at The Boeing Company. He was involved in sparse matrix method development and has always been involved in creating the right solutions for some of the most demanding computational tasks of the day. Boeing is the world's leading aerospace company with 2002 revenues of $54 billion and more than 150,000 employees worldwide. John Rawlins - Director of Supercomputing, Global Infrastructure Services Division, Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) since 1994. John is responsible for the University of Manchester-based CSAR Service to the U.K. Research Councils and for other supercomputing services to CSC clients with Europe. CSC is a leading global IT services company.