SGI and Fed Centric Secure U.S. Government Order for Massive, Cost-Efficient Enterprise Computing System

Posted by Scott_Ruecker on Nov 19, 2006 2:42 PM EDT
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SGI today announced an order with the U.S. Government for a massive SGI(R) Altix(R) 4700 system and maintenance services. The order is the result of SGI's close collaboration with Fed Centric Technologies, a Bethesda, Md.-based company that specializes in supporting the mission-critical applications, infrastructure and professional services requirements of the Department of Defense, intelligence community, the Department of Homeland Security and federal law enforcement communities. Powered by 128 Dual-Core Intel Itanium 2 9000 Series Processors, the new system features 4TB of globally shared memory running under a single instance of SUSE(R) Linux Enterprise Server 10 from Novell(R).

Fed Centric expects to install the system in the first quarter of 2007. SGI and Fed Centric made the announcement at the annual GEOINT Symposium, the nation's premier intelligence event hosted by the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF). At GEOINT, SGI is demonstrating its latest enterprise-class server, supercomputer, storage and data management solutions. SGI is also spotlighting how Altix systems are making it possible for enterprises and government agencies to run multi-terabyte databases entirely in memory, without having to massively scale the number of processors simply to increase memory. "SGI has provided breakthrough solutions to the U.S. Government since the company's inception, and we're delighted to continue that tradition by working with our partner Fed Centric to fulfill this latest order," said Dennis McKenna, CEO, SGI. "From national labs to top-tier federal agencies, government researchers and IT departments are working with ever-larger data sets. The SGI Altix family provides the power, scalability and flexibility that these demanding users require to dramatically shorten their time to results. And with Altix, these results come at much lower cost than is possible with UNIX or RISC-based systems." "A new and more advanced generation of data collection technologies has produced a data explosion within the government sectors," said Gerry Kolosvary, founder, Fed Centric. "The SGI Altix 4700 features a unique shared-memory architecture that makes it possible to efficiently work with even the largest data sets entirely in memory -- an advantage that translates into faster insights and more in-depth analysis. In time-sensitive research and analysis environments, those advantages matter." Database Breakthrough at GEOINT 2006 In the SGI booth at GEOINT 2006 this week (No. 207 at the Gaylord Palms Convention Center), SGI and Fed Centric also are presenting the results of a breakthrough data ingest and query performance test running Oracle(R) TimesTen In-Memory Database. Conducted on a SGI Altix 4700 system with about 1TB of main memory, the test was modeled on the escalating demands of a global floral delivery business. The tested solution was intended to determine how the Altix and Oracle solution would scale up to handle an in-memory database with more than 10 billion rows of data. The solution:

*Ingested more than 1 billion orders per hour

*Ingested more than 611 million person-records per hour

*Queried data at a rate of more than 91,000 queries per second

*Achieved a joint data rate of more than 13,000 per second

*Achieved a subquery data rate of more than 2,500 per second

"These astounding results show what is possible with a powerful server architecture designed to accommodate in-memory database ingests and queries for some of the largest data stores ever tested," added Kolosvary.

"The in-memory database performance results we are presenting at GEOINT represent a seminal point in the enterprise database solution marketplace," said Scott Ellman, enterprise data management segment manager, SGI. "Enterprises and government users now can make optimal use of SGI's proven, open standards-based performance, scalability and flexibility within data center environments at a radically low cost structure for mid-range and high-end database needs. The age of working with multi-terabyte databases entirely in memory is here."

SGI Altix systems uniquely allow customers to use large amounts of low-cost memory -- without a commensurate massive scale-up of CPUs -- making it possible to incorporate real-time, in-memory database technologies such as Oracle TimesTen on the largest databases, while slashing costs on hardware, software licensing and power.

Based on the powerful and scalable Intel(R) Itanium(R) 2 9000 Series Processor family, SGI Altix 4700 platform is comprised of modular blades -- interchangeable compute, memory, I/O and special purpose blades for unique component-level configuration flexibility, all within an easy to manage single system. The innovative blade-to-NUMAlink(TM) architecture enables users to mix and match eight standardized blade choices, for perfect and low-cost system right-sizing. SGI Altix 4700 also incorporates the shared-memory NUMAflex(R) architecture, which simplifies software development, workload management and system administration.

SGI -- Innovation for Results(TM)

SGI delivers a complete range of high-performance server and storage 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 their computing 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, providing technologies for homeland security and defense, or helping enterprises manage large data. With offices worldwide, the company is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., and can be found on the Web at http://www.sgi.com .

NOTE: SGI, Altix, NUMAflex, the SGI cube and the SGI logo are registered trademarks, and NUMAlink is a trademark of SGI in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries. Intel and Itanium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

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.

Media Contact: Lisa Pistacchio, 650.933.5683, pistacchio@sgi.com

SGI PR Hotline: 650.933.7777

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