Donostia Foundation Uses SGI Altix for Physics Research in Material Sciences

MADRID, Spain, Nov. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- To accelerate materials science research at atomic and molecular levels, the Donostia Foundation International Physics Center (DIPC), a leading organization devoted to the promotion of scientific research in basic and applied physics, has chosen Silicon Graphics Inc. (OTC: SGID) to upgrade its technical computing equipment in order to optimize research results.

With help from SGI solutions, DICP is conducting basic research in two lines of materials science. The first, condensed matter physics, studies such phenomena as the electronic response of surfaces, solids and nanostructures. The second, polymers and non-crystalline materials, involves the study of the motions and relaxation of molecules within polymers and glass forming systems, such as super-cooled liquids. The research could lead to new material production processes, or even completely new materials, for future use in industrial and consumer products.

Both areas involve data-intensive calculations that can degrade application performance in commodity server solutions. To optimize that performance, DIPC deployed an SGI(R) Altix(R) server powered by 32 Intel(R) Itanium(R) 2 processors and running the Linux(R) operating system earlier this year.

"DIPC researchers continually increase their computational requirements. Therefore, to reduce data and program migration costs, the short- to medium-term computing requirements of researchers will need to incorporate new systems that are highly compatible with those in use at the Computing Center," said Txomin Romero, director of DIPC Computer Center. "SGI systems are perfect for this integration, enabling DIPC researchers to dramatically increase time to insight and discovery by accelerating calculations and results. Overall, this reduces the cost of the investigation."

"SGI Altix meets the stability, flexibility, robustness and ease-of-use requirements that the Center requires of all its computing resources.

"In addition, the system architecture of the SGI Altix really gets the most out of the Itanium 2 processors for optimum application performance and throughput," added Romero.

Narcis Fornes, SGI business development manager for the academic and research markets in Spain, noted that the relationship between SGI and the Foundation was initiated two years ago. "DIPC has met the computing needs of its researchers with the SGI NUMAflex shared-memory technology. The installation of the Altix is an excellent reference for researchers from other Centers, who can verify the huge possibilities that these systems offer."

DIPC had previously installed an SGI(R) Origin(R) compute server for use in polymer and non-crystalline solids research. The addition of the new SGI Altix system integrates easily into their existing hybrid computing environment for added computational muscle in this field of research as well.

For more information on the Foundation's research visit: http://dipc.ehu.es/dipc/research_lines.htm) SILICON GRAPHICS | The Source of Innovation and Discovery(TM)

SGI, also known as Silicon Graphics, Inc. (OTC: SGID), 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. Para obtener imagenes se puede acceder a la pagina web: http://www.sgi.com/newsroom/img_library/index.html

Para mas informacion: anavelasco@beuvecomunicacion.com NOTE: Silicon Graphics, SGI, the SGI cube and the SGI logo are registered trademarks and Silicon Graphics Prism and The Source of Innovation and Discovery are trademarks of Silicon Graphics, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. Intel and Itanium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. 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

Marla Robinson

256.773.2371

marlar@sgi.com SGI PR HOTLINE

650.933.7777 SGI PR FACSIMILE

650.933.0283