Hungarian Meteorologists Take Aim at Larger, More Complex Weather Models With New SGI Supercomputer

Posted by tadelste on Jan 31, 2006 10:47 AM EDT
PR Newswire; By Press release
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HMS selected an SGI Altix 3700 Bx2 supercomputer powered by 144 Intel(R) Itanium(R) 2 processors and 288GB of memory, and running Novell SUSE(R) Linux(R) Enterprise Server 9 to Meet Challenges of Ultra Short-Range Forecast Codes to Protect Lives and Property Throughout Hungary

ATLANTA, 86th Annual American Meteorological Society Meeting, Jan. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- With an eye on developing more detailed and complex models to deliver increasingly accurate short-range weather forecasts, the Hungarian Meteorological Service (HMS) is investing in a scalable, high-performance SGI(R) Altix(R) supercomputer from Silicon Graphics (OTC: SGID).

Based in Budapest, HMS oversees a broad range of activities in the field of numerical weather prediction -- from ultra short-range modeling (up to a few hours) to climate-range modeling (up to several decades). In recent months, HMS administrators concluded that their existing computing resources could not keep up with the escalating demands of ultra short-range and short-range weather prediction. These forecasts have grown increasingly important throughout the world as severe weather phenomena and natural disasters have impacted lives and property.

To do this, HMS scientists gather all the observations (hourly surface measurements, vertical soundings of the atmosphere, radar data, satellite images and lightning detection data) available at the Carpathian Basin. Then in the process of numerical weather prediction, this information is combined with numerical models to form an efficient, reliable and modern forecasting system. Using this complex forecasting system, HMS can, for instance, warn residents and businesses all over Hungary (including the popular Lake Balaton summer resort region) of potentially dangerous weather up to six hours before its arrival. The system can warn area residents of rapidly forming snowstorms, freezing rain, fog, convective storms, wind gusts, hail storms and flash floods -- and even issue automated alerts.

"Analyzing multi-source data for ultra-short range and short range prediction, and doing it quickly, has proven extremely compute- and memory-intensive," said Andras Horanyi, meteorologist at HMS. "Our plans involve moving from our current advanced models to even higher-resolution models, which prompted the investment in a powerful and scalable parallel supercomputer to drive our codes. After extensive benchmarks involving many competing systems, SGI Altix proved the superior choice. The new Altix system offers the capabilities we require for our urgent current needs along with the headroom to scale as our needs grow over time." SGI Altix Storms Competitors

HMS embarked on an exhaustive evaluation process prior to making its selection. The key criterion was price/performance, with performance tests focused on two codes vital to operations at HMS: ALADIN (a numerical weather prediction model developed by a broad consortium of European and North-African countries) and MM5 (the Penn State/NCAR Mesoscale Model).

Administrators at HMS evaluated systems from IBM, HP and SGI. After the benchmark evaluations, HMS selected an SGI Altix 3700 Bx2 supercomputer powered by 144 Intel(R) Itanium(R) 2 processors and 288GB of memory, and running Novell SUSE(R) Linux(R) Enterprise Server 9. The SGI shared-memory platform so excelled in the benchmark tests that the 144-processor Altix configuration outperformed competing systems powered by approximately 200 processors and even more memory. HMS plans to install the system in two phases: 72 processors and 144GB of memory in February, and the rest of the configuration by May 2006.

"With this new Altix system, we can compute forecasts using our recent settings in just a few minutes, instead of the hour that we currently need on our existing hardware," said Horanyi. "This represents such a dramatic increase in our capabilities that it will help all of Hungary stay prepared for potentially damaging weather systems."

SGI delivers innovative technology to researchers and scientists employed in the study of such phenomena as climate change, tsunami, ozone depletion, environmental impacts in urban planning, groundwater pollution, and the improvement of severe event and climate forecasting. Beyond weather prediction modeling, SGI solutions support satellite and radar image processing and data management solutions for the terabytes of data managed in this industry as well as the air and water quality modeling arena. 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, and Discovery is a trademark of Silicon Graphics, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. Novell is a registered trademark, and SUSE is a trademark of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Intel and Itanium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds 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 the sale of products that are subject to risks and uncertainties that 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 performance. Such risks and uncertainties include financial and contractual commitments, the installation and performance of hardware and software, reliance on performance of third-party partners, timely delivery of the system, acceptance of the system by the customer, and other risks detailed from time to time in the company's most recent SEC reports. MEDIA CONTACT

Marla Robinson

marlar@sgi.com

256.773.2371 SGI PR HOTLINE

650.933.7777 SGI PR FACSIMILE

650.933.0283

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