Latest Release of SGI ProPack Software Pushes Linux Further into HPC with Features Exclusive to Altix Servers, Clusters and Supercomputers

SGI today unveiled SGI ProPack(TM) 5 for Linux(R), the latest version of its software supplement that boosts the capabilities and performance of industry- standard Linux on the world's most scalable Linux servers.

SGI ProPack 5 brings unique and powerful capabilities to SGI(R) Altix(R) 4700 and 450 systems running on Intel(R) Itanium(R) 2 processors, while simplifying the deployment and administration of SGI(R) Altix(R) XE clusters built around Dual-Core Intel(R) Xeon(R) processors. SGI ProPack 5 will be offered as an optional enhancement to SUSE(R) Linux Enterprise Server 10 from Novell(R).

SGI ProPack 5 on Altix 4700 and 450 Servers

The latest release of SGI ProPack brings SGI's REACT Real-Time Extension for Linux to a standard Linux distribution for the first time enabling real- time capabilities and support on an unmodified version of the open-source kernel. REACT guarantees interrupt response times of no more than 30 microseconds in configurations of 2 to 64 Intel Itanium 2 processors. Interrupt response time is the time that passes between the instant a hardware device raises an interrupt signal, and the instant the system returns control to a user process.

For customers conducting flight simulation, satellite data analysis, or command and control activities, the inclusion of REACT in SGI ProPack 5 means users can easily run real-time applications on the largest support single system images (SSIs) in the industry.

This latest support for real-time computing on Linux is the result of years of contributions to the open-source community by SGI, which has consistently identified hold-offs and submitted kernel modifications that, once accepted into the Linux kernel, have resulted in better latencies. Yet even as it has contributed innovations that benefit all Linux users, SGI remains the only vendor to provide a real-time solution designed to use with a leading Linux distribution.

SGI ProPack 5, in conjunction with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10, provides another industry first: support for systems running 1,024 processors under a single copy of Linux. By driving the capabilities of SGI Altix and 64- bit Linux to record heights, SGI continues to push the boundaries of what even the most demanding high-performance computing (HPC) customers can expect from Linux.

"With SGI ProPack 5, we continue our long-standing effort to bring to the Linux platform the same HPC capabilities we had built into our IRIX systems," said Steve Neuner, director of Linux, SGI. "With enhanced support for real- time computing and the largest single systems ever to operate under Linux, SGI ProPack 5 ensures that only SGI can deliver the very best of HPC to a truly open-source, industry-standard platform."

SGI ProPack 5 on Altix XE Servers

For SGI Altix XE servers, SGI ProPack 5 offers enhanced system administration and performance monitoring tools that result in better application performance and simpler cluster management. The latest release is the first time SGI ProPack has been available for x86 architecture processors.

For instance, a premium new feature of SGI ProPack 5 on Altix XE is support for flexible file I/O (FFIO). Never before available for systems based on Intel Xeon processors, FFIO support enables every application that runs on SGI Altix XE servers and clusters to automatically take advantage of optimized I/O speeds when accessing data files. This can result in I/O performance enhancements of up to 15 percent by reading files either backwards and forwards to reduce wait time.

SGI ProPack 5 also incorporates a full slate of tools that help system administrators better manage system resources, both on single systems and across clusters. In particular, NUMA tools such as cpuset allow administrators to more efficiently assign cluster CPU and memory resources to handle application workloads. SGI ProPack 5 also provides users with other important features, such as the Intel MPI runtime environment and Linux jobs support.

While such SGI ProPack 5 features as REACT today are supported only on Intel Itanium 2 processor-based systems, the latest release lays the groundwork for further enhancements to SGI Altix systems based on Intel Xeon processors.

"Bringing HPC-class capabilities to standard Linux distributions on a broad range of systems is a key element of our product strategy," said Neuner. "Throughout the Altix product line, customers benefit from SGI innovation, SGI performance, and SGI reliability."

"While SUSE Linux Enterprise can now support single Altix systems of up to 1,024 processors, we recognize that scalability is about far more than processor count," said Roger Levy, Novell vice president and general manager, Open Platform Solutions. "By taking advantage of such SGI ProPack features as real-time performance and bundled Intel tools, SUSE Linux Enterprise shows once more its commitment to meeting the business needs of the rapidly growing community of performance-minded Linux users."

The SGI Altix family leverages the built-in SGI NUMAlink interconnect fabric, which allows global addressing of all memory in the system and delivers data up to 200 times faster than conventional interconnects. For the first time, more complex data sets and complete workflows can be driven entirely out of memory, enabling productivity breakthroughs that traditional Linux clusters or repurposed UNIX(R) servers can't achieve. Altix systems offer breakthrough flexibility and configurability, scaling to up to 512 processors per node. Based on a 64-bit Linux operating environment, the Altix family is uniquely capable of independently scaling Intel Itanium 2 and Intel Xeon processors, shared memory and/or I/O on a single, standard chassis with different expansion modules, providing optimal resource usage for demanding technical applications.

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