Appro HyperBlade AMD Opteronprocessor-based clusters Power up the Performance and Architecture Laboratory ("PAL") at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Milpitas, CA – January 30, 2006 – Appro, a leading provider of high-performance enterprise computing systems today announced that Appro HyperBlade Clusters have been recognized as among the world's fastest supercomputers, according to the current TOP500 list of supercomputers. The TOP500 has emerged as the source for determining the world's fastest supercomputers based on the Linpack benchmark.

Benchmarks show significant performance gains

The Appro HyperBlade Cluster at Performance and Architecture Laboratory ("PAL") at Los Alamos National Laboratory, reached a Linpack benchmark performance of 3.4 TFlop/s "teraflops" or trillions of floating point calculations per second. This Appro HyperBlade Cluster is placed in the one hundred and thirty-second position on the current TOP500 list. The Appro HyperBlade Cluster solution is powered by Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors configured in 2-socket 256 nodes for a total of 1024 cores. The cluster is running Linux and is connected by a Voltaire InfiniBand switch. This cluster reflects the growing trend in supercomputing toward standards-based systems configured in clusters to address sophisticated computing needs. For a cluster picture, go to http://www.taborcommunications.com/hpcwire/features/topsys/appro_pal.html

“We chose Appro as part of a competitive process because of the quality and cost effectiveness of their proposal. Appro committed to providing a system that meets our needs for flexibility, speed and simplicity, and with the HyperBlade cluster, Appro delivered on the promise, said Adolfy Hoisie, Leader of the Performance and Architecture Lab (PAL). The cluster will be utilized in a variety of R&D projects related to system architecture, performance analysis and modeling, and system software.”

‘We are proud to be part of the Top 500 list of the fastest supercomputing in the world. Our customers define us as a trusted and established technology partner that not only provides a well-integrated blade cluster solution, but also understands the rest of their computing needs," said Daniel Kim, CEO of Appro. "We are happy to provide our customers the flexibility, high-performance and simplicity to help them achieve their business objectives.”

“Today's announcement reiterates that AMD64 technology enables highly upgradeable systems moving from 32- to 64-bit applications in single core and now from single-core to dual-core," said Pat Patla, director, Server/Workstation Marketing, AMD. "With Appro’s AMD Opteron processor-based blades and servers, high-performance and enterprise customers benefit from the advanced processing and industry-leading performance per watt afforded by Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors.”

About Appro

Appro’s headquarters is in Milpitas, CA with an R&D and manufacturing center in Asia and a sales and service office in Houston, Texas. APPRO accelerates technical, IT and business results through its innovative product architecture, industry leading engineering, people, and experience. APPRO enables a variety of network computing applications by developing powerful, scalable, and reliable clusters, servers, storage subsystems and high-end workstations for the high-performance computing (HPC), Internet computing and cluster market.

http://www.appro.com