Directly Connects Servers with Storage; Lowering Cost, Reducing Complexity, Increasing Performance

SC|05 - SEATTLE (Nov. 14 2005)—Silicon Graphics today announced an industry first-that it is the only provider to offer a complete, high-performance, native InfiniBand interconnect solution that includes both servers and storage integrated in an InfiniBand fabric. InfiniBand is a high-speed networking technology that has become prevalent in server-to-server connectivity. For the first time, customers can leverage previous investments by directly connecting storage to an existing InfiniBand-based cluster with SGI's new commercially available native InfiniBand storage.

The announcement came today at SC|05 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking and Storage (November 12 -18 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center), where SGI, its partners and its customers will demonstrate high-performance storage solutions enabled by a new native InfiniBand interface for its SGI® InfiniteStorage TP9700 disk array. Supporting the SGI InfiniteStorage vision to integrate seamlessly and scale infinitely, the new TP9700 capability reduces complexity, lowers costs and maximizes throughput for InfiniBand-based Linux® OS clusters.

"The most daunting problem HPC customers face today is the mounting challenge of accessing and managing the explosive amount of data they work with. Customers often end up with a patchwork of various networking products," said John Howarth, director, Storage Marketing, SGI. "Today, SGI has dramatically simplified this difficult obstacle, giving customers a single complete, seamless, and scalable InfiniBand fabric capable of moving data at up to five times the speed of traditional FibreChannel. This solution is ideal for an industry thirsty for bandwidth and intolerant of high latencies."

The new InfiniBand-based TP9700 system provides four 10Gb/second InfiniBand host connections which can be plugged directly into the InfiniBand fabric. SGI's TP9700 is based on Engenio's 6498 storage system and interfaces with commercially available InfiniBand components from Voltaire and Mellanox Technologies, recognized leaders in interconnect solutions for high-performance computing (HPC).

SC|05 attendees can see the InfiniBand fabric in action at the SGI Booth (No. 602). The demonstration will incorporate high-definition video storage and visualization of geospatial data residing on an InfiniBand-enabled TP9700 array located at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Maryland. The database will be globally accessed via YottaYotta GSX 3000 NetStorage Control Nodes providing high-performance, coherent data sharing to both sites. Additionally, the database will be mirrored to a second InfiniBand-enabled TP9700 array in the SGI booth to demonstrate continuity of operations. Users will visualize a data set being shared between two InfiniBand fabrics across thousands of miles, over a WAN connection using a SCinet managed OpenIB compliant InfiniBand fabric bridged by YottaYotta.

Attendees can also take the SGI InfiniBand Tour at SC|05 by visiting SGI's InfiniBand partners, including Engenio Information Technologies Inc. (in the SGI booth), Voltaire (Booth 1630), YottaYotta (Booth 2118) and Mellanox Technologies (Booth 902).

Today's announcement reflects SGI's continued commitment to providing high-performance, low-latency interconnect fabrics for SGI® Altix® servers and supercomputers and SGI InfiniteStorage solutions. For instance, SGI Altix servers have supported Voltaire 10Gb/sec InfiniBand switch solutions since 2004, when the high-speed interconnect fabric was deployed at NASA's Columbia supercomputer, ranked as the second most powerful supercomputer in the industry when unveiled at SC|04.

Pricing and availability Native InfiniBand support for the SGI InfiniteStorage TP9700 array is available today from SGI, with configurations priced from $103,550. SGI InfiniteStorage Solutions are available directly from SGI or through SGI Solution Providers worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.sgi.com/products/storage/

SGI InfiniteStorage is a complete line of scalable, high-performance storage solutions built specifically for data intensive environments. Available with 64-bit Linux OS-based SGI Altix family of servers and SGI® IRIX® OS-based SGI® Origin®, SGI InfiniteStorage solutions for Intelligent Consolidation, Data Lifecycle Management and Data Protection also support Solaris™, AIX®, Windows®, 64- and 32-bit Linux, and Mac OS® X systems and other UNIX® platforms. High-performance storage arrays, including the SGI® TP9000 series available with Fibre Channel drives or Serial ATA, tape libraries and network storage devices are also available from SGI.

SILICON GRAPHICS | The Source of Innovation and Discovery

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