SCIENCE

BANGKOK, THAILAND -- SGI (NYSE: SGI) has helped bring the splendor of ancient Thailand's royal courts to the silver screen in the stunning historical Thai movie, Suriyothai. Its filmmakers harnessed the power of Silicon Graphics(R) Onyx2(R) systems and Silicon Graphics(R) O2(R) visual workstations to tell the epic tale of real-life Queen Suriyothai. With a budget of $8.8 million (U.S.), the largest reported in the Thai film industry, the movie spans two decades of the 16th century and chronicles the life and times of the heroic Queen Suriyothai, who sacrificed her life to save her husband. "The power of Onyx2 systems and O2 workstations from SGI has allowed us to achieve the mission-critical objectives of this historic movie," said M. C. Chatrichalerm Yukol, more affectionately known as Than Mui, director of the film. "The talented graphics team at Fame Post-production experienced a smooth interface and were free to employ professional applications on a level unheard-of on other machines. I am very pleased and impressed by the results. Thanks to SGI, the film has attained a level of realism that captivates audiences." "With the use of SGI systems, we were able to achieve true visual effects brilliance where the audience cannot distinguish the computer graphics from physically filmed scenes," said Wilaiwan Leelachart, executive director of Fame Post-production Co., Ltd. "When we took on this project, we knew that Suriyothai needed to be very elaborate to make history come alive. We wanted to make the best movie possible, and we had the best technology to help us." Leelachart added, "To everyone involved, this was a labor of love. We started the production of the high-resolution computer graphics scenes using the leading-edge technology of Silicon Graphics Onyx2 and O2 systems at the beginning of this year." "We are very honored that Fame Post-production and Than Mui chose SGI for this very important movie," said Greg Estes, vice president of corporate marketing at SGI. "The Silicon Graphics Onyx2 and O2 systems are now part of Thai filmmaking history. SGI's leadership position in visualization and high-performance computing for the filmmaking industry illustrates our continued commitment to helping our customers, in Thailand and the region, produce the best-quality movies and entertainment." Apart from filmmaking, Silicon Graphics Onyx2 systems have other applications in the fields of manufacturing, government, engineering, science, research and entertainment. The technology's versatility is attributed to its ability to support concurrent, real-time processing of complex 3D graphics, rich 2D imagery and ultrahigh-resolution video to create the world's fastest, most realistic visualizations. The SGI(TM) Onyx(R) family of products also offers flexible configurations ranging from a deskside platform to multiple rack systems. For more information visit www.sgi.com