SYSTEMS

Company to highlight advanced computing and visualization solutions for the challenges ahead: Mercury Computer Systems announced that it will demonstrate live applications ported to the Cell Broadband Engine (BE) processor in Booth #1135 at Supercomputing 2006, November 11 - 17, in Tampa Florida. Demonstrations will feature Mercury Cell BE processor-based hardware and the Mercury MultiCore Plus SDK (Software Development Kit), its complete, intuitive programming environment optimized for products based on the Cell BE and other multicore processors. "Mercury's MultiCore Plus SDK offers programmers a practical approach for achieving high performance on the Cell BE processor," said Jack Dongarra, University Distinguished Professor and Director, Innovative Computing Laboratory, University of Tennessee. Combining a powerful set of software tools and libraries into a seamless package, the MultiCore Plus SDK enables users to maximize resources and application performance by taking full advantage of the multicore processor's computation model. A diverse range of organizations, including the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, have purchased Cell BE processor-based hardware, software, and/or optimization services. Mercury customers and partners are leveraging the performance capabilities of the Cell BE processor to solve various specialized application challenges in seismic computation, video processing, semiconductor inspection, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), molecular modeling in biotech, and ray tracing. Some of these applications will be demonstrated at Supercomputing 2006. Mercury is participating in a joint collaboration with the Software Integration and Visualization Office (SIVO) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to develop a DICE (Data Intensive Computing Environment) project. DICE provides a realistic, high-performance computing environment where computer, storage, and network vendors can test new products and solutions for high-end data management issues. A Mercury Cell BE processor-based workstation will be installed at Goddard to perform application porting and performance and remote visualization tests to evaluate Cell Technology for applicability to NASA applications. Remote visualization capabilities will be demonstrated in the DICE/AVETeC booth at Supercomputing 2006. "DICE is a new approach to solutions for the High Performance Computing community," said Roger Panton, DICE Executive Director. "The ultimate goal is to improve the time-to-solution of complex engineering and scientific problems. It is a discreet environment, where we learn and share in each project's successes." Mercury is actively driving understanding and adoption of the Cell BE processor through deep engagements with customers and industry organizations. To date, Mercury technology leaders have presented on the programmability and performance of the Cell BE processor in diverse applications in more than 20 different technical forums across the globe. "More and more customers in a range of markets are discovering that the Cell BE processor can truly offer tremendous opportunity for breakthrough application performance," said Craig Lund, Chief Technology Officer at Mercury Computer Systems. "Mercury has the tools and know-how to enable customers to reach that next level and beyond." The Company will also run demonstrations of the latest release of amira powered by ScaleViz, its advanced 3D visualization software used in more than 1,000 installations worldwide for very large volume 3D datasets in medicine, geosciences, life sciences, and engineering applications. Mercury's amira 3D visualization software is a powerful, multifaceted tool for integrating, manipulating, and visualizing large-volume data sets. Based on Version 6.0 of Open Inventor by Mercury Computer Systems, the volume-rendering techniques provided in amira allow interactive, high-quality, lighted-volume rendering; slicing with embossing effects; and iso-surface extraction. With abundant state-of-the-art features, amira offers workflow improvements in an extensible architecture with an easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI). For more information on Mercury's Cell BE processor-based offerings and amira 3D visualization software, visit Mercury in Booth #1135 at Supercomputing 2006; visit its Web site or its Web site; or contact Mercury at (866) 627-6951.