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U.S. ARMY'S RTTC SELECTS SGI FOR ADVANCED MISSILE TESTING

Silicon Graphics, at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC), announced that the U.S. Army's Redstone Technical Test Center (RTTC), in order to perform highly advanced test and evaluation on Army missile systems, has installed two SGI Onyx family supercomputing systems and 10 Silicon Graphics Fuel visual workstations, an SGI InfiniteStorage system plus related hardware and software.

The SGI systems are part of the TIO4 procurement by the Department of Defense's (DoD) High Performance Computing Management Office (HPCMO), which evaluates technical supercomputing proposals submitted from Services and Agencies in DoD. While many proposals are submitted each year, only a few are selected based on the needs of DoD and technical merit in the supercomputing field. SGI personnel provided technical expertise to RTTC in drafting their proposal which resulted in an award and being competitively selected as one of the best submissions to the HPCMP.

RTTC uses the two SGI Onyx family supercomputers to generate simulated sensor data and output the graphics digitally in various forms and spectrums (visible, infrared, etc.) Then, they use the digital signals to "project" the data on the seekers of various missile systems to make them "think" they are flying in various environments. They also use these simulated digital signals to test the effects of various extreme environments on advanced missile seekers by interjecting dust, clouds, smoke, rain, extreme cold or heat, etc. For example, RTTC can check how the propulsion systems, subsystems, or fins are moving over various terrains and in various positions (i.e. hugging the ground, making hairpin turns) and test new component designs for reactions to both terrain and weather -- before they ever fly the systems in real world situations.

The new SGI Onyx systems, installed in March 2004, are being used to test multiple similar missile systems, along with the 10 Silicon Graphics Fuel systems distributed between the two supercomputers for developing capabilities that are re-combined on the supercomputers for executing the test under tightly controlled time constraints.

One 16-processor SGI Onyx system is outfitted with a SGI InfiniteStorage TP9100 storage system; the second 12-processor Onyx is networked to a StorageTek L-series storage system with fourteen 73GB tape drives. RTTC uses SGI InfiniteReality4 graphics subsystems on both Onyx systems for high performance modeling and simulation of sensor scenes and driving the video through the infrared scene projector.

"For over ten years, Redstone has relied on SGI platforms for their real-time operating system capabilities, robust multi-processor shared architecture, and extensive graphics for producing high resolution sensor scenes within critical time constraints. The SGI Onyx systems provide the advanced computing capabilities that deliver the highest degree of visual fidelity and performance needed to match the ever more sophisticated missile systems we test," said Tim Clardy, RTTC HPC-DC Director. "SGI's involvement and support is exceptional. We have relied on SGI for assisting RTTC with our advanced test techniques, and they have been a critical part of our team in acquiring supercomputers with the proper configuration for our mission. Missile capabilities, by nature, are continually pushing the edge of the technology envelope and it is vital to increase computer technologies for properly testing these missile systems before their deployment to the soldier. We're pushing the limits of technology, albeit in an unconventional way, and SGI scalable system technology provides us a major horsepower boost."

"SGI has been working with the DoD's High Performance Computing Management Office for many years and we are very pleased that our technical expertise and familiarity with this program has led to this important investment in homeland security at Redstone Technical Test Center," said Benn Stratton, Senior Director of Business Development and Field Operations, SGI. "Teaming with our customers to help define and secure their high performance compute and visualization needs -- be it in government and defense, the sciences, energy, manufacturing or media -- is part and parcel of our commitment to provide the best solutions to meet our customers challenges for years to come."

A long-term SGI customer, RTTC runs both classified and unclassified labs, with previously installed SGI Origin 2000 and Origin 3000 HPC systems, SGI supercomputers, and a variety of SGI visual workstations, which provide general computing power to the U.S. government for various DoD programs.

Company Showcases Compute, Storage, and Visualization Solutions at I/ITSEC 2004

Silicon Graphics demonstrate at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC), Dec. 6-9, its industry-leading compute, storage and visualization solutions that are helping government decision- makers leverage the explosion in the amount of data available for Defense and Intelligence applications. SGI integrated solutions are transforming the Defense and Intelligence decision cycle by rapidly turning complex data into insight and effective action for military and civilian agencies.

At I/ITSEC 2004, SGI featured a Command Center system, an advanced display tool that empowers decision-makers with the ability to visually represent complex data. The Command Center effectively turns vast amounts of data into the knowledge required for making and communicating critical decisions with greater speed and confidence. The system includes a large center display with advanced brightness, resolution and geometric accuracy needed to project key relationships within the data in either mono or stereo 3D. Additional information is displayed on the large LCD panels and monitors on both side wings. To further enhance decision-making and communication, SGI Visual Area Networking software can be added to give remote sites, near real-time, simultaneous access to the visuals represented on the Command Center.

SGI and its partners presented various Defense, Intelligence and Homeland Security solutions in the Command Center throughout the I/ITSEC conference.

Compute

At the compute station in SGI's booth, the company showcased the SGI Altix server product line driven by Intel Itanium 2 processors and the Linux operating system. The SGI Altix architecture handles large data sets with ease, enabling government customers to achieve groundbreaking improvements in homeland security, simulation-based acquisition, signals and geospatial intelligence, computational fluid dynamics, climate/weather/oceans modeling, and electro-magnetics and acoustics, among other applications.

Store

With the explosion in the amount of data used in Defense and Intelligence applications, multiple users running multiple operating environments including Linux, IRIX , Solaris and Windows systems need access to this large data as it moves through various stages of the Decision Cycle. An SGI Storage Area Network (SAN) running the CXFS shared filesystem allows heterogeneous clients access to a single copy of the data, speeding workflow by avoiding time consuming data replication and movement. Implementing an SGI SAN solution also allows IT managers to reduce storage and administration cost while enhancing security by consolidating independent pods of storage into a single easily managed pool.

In the SGI booth, attendees saw real-world demonstrations how to accelerate workflow and reduce cost by implementing a SAN. The company showcased a Windows database development system user making changes to a simulation database and then immediately flying through the updated data using an IRIX OS-based system. The two machines, running different operating systems, use CXFS and the SGI SAN server for high performance access to a single copy of the data residing on an SGI InfiniteStorage TP9500 Fibre Channel disk array.

Visualize

The visualization area of the SGI booth at I/ITSEC 2004 highlighted the new Silicon Graphics Prism , a breakout technology designed to provide superior training and decision support for professionals in the Defense and Intelligence community. Silicon Graphics Prism is the world's first truly scalable Linux visualization system. Based on SGI's global shared memory architecture, it provides seamless scaling for CPUs, GPUs, memory, I/O bandwidth and storage in a tightly integrated package. Using Intel Itanium 2 CPUs and ATI FireGL, Silicon Graphics Prism is the perfect blend of COTS technologies and industry-leading image generator capabilities. It satisfies the most demanding requirements while providing a lower life cycle cost than a PC-IG.

In addition to image generator demonstrations for fast jet, helicopter and ground training environments, the visualization area of SGI's booth demonstrated new capabilities for homeland security like emergency/contingency planning/training and border/perimeter security. Toolkits from the Open Source community and SGI's software development team were also on display.

Redstone Technical Test Center

The Redstone Technical Test Center (RTTC) is a U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC) tenant activity located on Redstone Arsenal near Huntsville, Alabama. RTTC is one of the seven test centers that comprise the Developmental Test Command (DTC), headquartered at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. RTTC's primary service is to provide advanced testing of weapon systems for the Department of Defense (DoD), its contractors, and friendly governments. For more information, access http://www.rttc.army.mil/.

SILICON GRAPHICS | The Source of Innovation and Discovery

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.