SGI Launches First Entry In New Generation of Visualization Solutions
4/9/2008 10:36:00 AM
Virtu VN200 Delivers Advanced Real-time Visualization for Collaborative and Standalone Environments
SUNNYVALE, Calif. (April 8, 2008)—SGI (NASDAQ: SGIC) today launched the first entry in the Virtu solutions family, a new generation of SGI® visualization systems. The SGI® Virtu VN200 is designed to power the performance visualization needs of today''s HPC and commercial business users.
The Virtu VN200 solution brings a new level of productivity, flexibility, power and accuracy to engineers, scientists and creative professionals. It accelerates the adoption of visualization within environments that must process today''s large data sets. The Virtu VN200 solution, combined with patented SGI intellectual property, empowers users to analyze visual models in a centralized environment and then view their simulations anywhere.
Results can be viewed locally, or delivered seamlessly to any geographic location and virtually any device. Individual users have access to compute power that can process large data sets with increased accuracy, while teams can view and manipulate models in real-time — powering true, real-time collaboration.
"For 25 years SGI has been a leader in performance visualization," said SGI CEO Robert "Bo" Ewald. "The Virtu VN200 is the first in a series of new solutions that reaffirm our leadership in this market. Visualization does more than help our customers solve their toughest problems — it opens their eyes to what''s possible. As the world embraces 3D visualization and even more powerful virtual reality environments, expect to see SGI lead in turning the virtual world into reality."
The SGI Virtu family continues the company''s tradition of visual innovation, bringing the wealth of patented SGI visualization technology to HPC and commercial business environments. SGI has long been a recognized leader in advanced visualization, powering innovations including: the first digital prototype of the world''s largest passenger jet; the first fully immersive center for war ship design; eight consecutive years of Academy Award-winning special effects; the first atomic-level simulation of a complete, functioning organism; the industry''s first 64-bit gaming system with Nintendo; and the world''s first virtual reality gaming center.
SGI visualization technology has been developed, enhanced and field-proven in more than 700 HPC visualization environments. These environments provide immersive visualization for real-time decision support, combat training, battlefield simulation, media rendering and display, computational steering and product design. Every offering within the SGI Virtu family will be powered by these advanced visualization technologies.
"The SGI Virtu VN200 is designed to power applications ranging from stand-alone graphics processing to collaborative environments," said Bob Pette, vice president, Visual Business Unit, SGI. "It is ideal for consolidating distributed workstations into a single, powerful environment. Users ranging from medical personnel and search and rescue teams to product design and decision support can take advantage of this next generation of visual collaboration in a highly distributed, real-time environment. The resulting increases in accuracy, efficiency and overall productivity are enormous."
"The newest generation of HPC applications relies on the analysis of massive amounts of data, frequently from geographically dispersed locations," said Addison Snell, vice president and general manager, Tabor Research. "It makes sense that the industry should embrace visualization as a way to gain insights from that data without moving it around as much. Considering their heritage, it also makes sense that SGI is responding to the market need with a new generation of high-performance visualization solutions."
High-Density, Scalable Visualization Solution
The SGI Virtu VN200 integrates hardware, software and services into a high-density, highly scalable visualization solution specifically designed for performance graphics environments. The new solution is designed to add visualization capabilities to the full line of SGI® Altix®, Altix® XE and Altix® ICE systems.
Factory-integrated and available as a modular cluster node, the Virtu VN200 features the latest generation of NVIDIA Quadro® FX visual computing technology. SGI and NVIDIA are collaborating on visualization technologies to power SGI advanced visualization capabilities for use in future SGI Virtu family solutions.
SGI Virtu VN200 can either be integrated into a compute cluster environment or as part of custom visualization systems and consulting services provided by SGI Professional Services. With consultants averaging more than 20 years of experience in addressing the data visualization needs of HPC users, SGI Professional Services implements world-class display and remote visualization solutions for some of the world''s most demanding customers.
Demonstrations at NAB
In Booth SL4314 at NAB next week, SGI will demonstrate the new SGI Virtu VN200 as part of an integrated, comprehensive digital content production workflow.
Configuration, Pricing and Availability
Priced from $10,575 for a Virtu VN200 node with two Intel® Xeon® E5420 processors, 8GB of memory, and an NVIDIA Quadro FX5600 GPU, the SGI Virtu VN200 is available today from SGI.
For more information on SGI Virtu VN200 visualization solutions, visit: www.sgi.com/products/visualization/virtu/vn.html
SGI | Innovation for Results™
SGI (NASDAQ: SGIC) is a leader in high-performance computing. SGI delivers a broad range of high-performance server, storage and visualization solutions along with industry-leading professional services and support that enable its customers to overcome the challenges of complex data-intensive workflows and accelerate breakthrough discoveries, innovation and information transformation. SGI helps customers solve significant challenges whether it''s enhancing the quality of life through drug research, designing and manufacturing safer and more efficient cars and airplanes, studying global climate change, providing technologies for homeland security and defense, or helping enterprises manage large data. With offices worldwide, the company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., and can be found on the Web at sgi.com.
This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding SGI technologies and third-party technologies that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such statements. The reader is cautioned not to rely unduly on these forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of future or current performance. Such risks and uncertainties include long-term program commitments, the performance of third parties, the sustained performance of current and future products, financing risks, the ability to integrate and support a complex technology solution involving multiple providers and users, and other risks detailed from time to time in the company''s most recent SEC reports, including its reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q.
