Belgian Scientists to Stay Ahead of Changing Weather Conditions with Advanced SGI Technology

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As the world assesses a year that saw some of modern history's most catastrophic weather events, meteorologists in Belgium will be using advanced supercomputing and storage solutions from Silicon Graphics (NYSE: SGI) to quickly predict ever- changing weather conditions for the country's 10.3 million citizens.

Three Belgian research agencies, allied under the name "Space Pole," purchased a 56-processor SGI(R) Altix(R) 3700 supercomputer with 112GB of globally shared memory and integrated with a 4TB SGI(R) InfiniteStorage TP900 solution. The Space Pole will run Novell's SuSE Linux Enterprise Server, Ver. 9 on the new Altix system. The contract also includes 24-hour maintenance from SGI Professional Services. The system was shipped in late September and installation will be completed in October. The Space Pole plans to upgrade the system and extend the service contract as new technologies become available.

The new Altix system will serve as a central compute server for the three Belgian institutes of the Space Pole. The Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, which studies the upper atmosphere, will use the Altix system for instance for simulations of the Earth's magnetosphere and modeling of the stratospheric ozone layer. The Royal Observatory of Belgium will use the compute server for studying physics of the sun and for modeling planetary interiors and stellar atmospheres. The Royal Meteorological Institute will leverage the system for mathematical modeling and operational weather forecasting calculations, in addition to identifying long-term climate trends such as global warming.

The Space Pole selected the SGI Altix system after conducting performance benchmarks against systems from IBM and Sun. "The SGI Altix system's architecture delivered excellent results in the benchmarking process," said D. Nevejans, head of IT investments, Space Pole. "We look forward to realizing the productivity benefits that such a system is bound to offer our researchers and meteorologists."

SGI solutions are particularly well suited to scientific applications, due in large part to SGI's third-generation NUMAflex(TM) architecture. This unique global shared-memory architecture enables researchers to hold entire data sets in memory, allowing for faster and more interactive data analysis, and resulting in more incisive conclusions. SILICON GRAPHICS | The Source of Innovation and Discovery(TM)

SGI, also known as Silicon Graphics, Inc., is a leader in high-performance computing, visualization and storage. SGI's vision is to provide technology that enables the most significant scientific and creative breakthroughs of the 21st century. Whether it's sharing images to aid in brain surgery, finding oil more efficiently, studying global climate, providing technologies for homeland security and defense or enabling the transition from analog to digital broadcasting, SGI is dedicated to addressing the next class of challenges for scientific, engineering and creative users. With offices worldwide, the company is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., and can be found on the Web at http://www.sgi.com. NOTE: Silicon Graphics, SGI, Altix, the SGI cube and the SGI logo are registered trademarks, and The Source of Innovation, NUMAflex, and Discovery is a trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. MEDIA CONTACT

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