University of São Paulo Selects SGI® Altix® ICE 8400 to Accelerate Astronomy Research

SGI HPC System with AMD Opteron™ 6100 Processors Dramatically Increases Scale and Scope of Computing Research

FREMONT, CA. — February 14, 2011 — SGI (NASDAQ: SGI), a trusted leader in technical computing, today announced that the Astronomy Department of the University of São Paulo has selected SGI® Altix® ICE 8400 for its high performance computing (HPC) system to enable advanced scientific astronomical research in Brazil.

As theoreticians at the University of São Paulo are creating new and more advanced physical models to study the universe, they require immense processing power from larger, faster and more massively parallel computer clusters. The Astronomy Department selected Altix ICE 8400 with AMD (NYSE:AMD - News) processors to uniquely meet its intensive computing needs, enabling them to solve problems that were previously not possible.

"Much of the research done in our department critically depends on the computer resources available," said Dr. Alex C. Carciofi, professor in the Astronomy Department of the University of São Paulo. "The computing power of our new SGI Altix ICE 8400 system will allow us to dramatically increase the scale and scope of the problems we are studying, helping us to understand more about this vast universe in which we all live."

The University of São Paulo’s Altix ICE 8400 consists of 2,304 cores of AMD Opteron™ 6172 processors and contains over 4.6 TB of main memory. With AMD Opteron 6100 Series processor support, the Altix ICE 8400 is now capable of delivering up to 1,536 processor cores in a single rack, and can seamlessly scale from 32 to 65,536 compute nodes. Additionally, the Altix ICE 8400 now provides up to 14.13 teraflops of compute capability and up to 8.192 TB of memory per rack.

"The AMD Opteron 6100 Series processor provides the performance-per-dollar-per-watt customers like the University of São Paulo demand for the increasingly complex research and data needs," said Pat Patla, vice president and general manager, Server Business, AMD. "By combining the power of AMD Opteron 6100 Series processors with SGI's high-performance technical computing solutions, we can deliver HPC solutions that continue to push the envelope beyond anything we’ve seen before."

"The momentum continues with SGI Altix ICE with AMD processors, as we now offer full and immediate support of the newly released AMD Opteron 6100 Series processor models across our entire scale-out server lineup," said Bill Mannel, vice president of product marketing at SGI. "This includes Altix® ICE high performance computing (HPC) clusters, CloudRack® and Rackable™ scale-out servers, and SGI® InfiniteStorage servers."

Availability
A wide selection of SGI scale-out server platforms supporting AMD Opteron 6100 Series processors is immediately available. For information about specific configurations and pricing, please visit SGI at www.sgi.com/amd.

About the Astronomy Department of the University of São Paulo
The Astronomy Department of the University of São Paulo is the largest and most important center for astronomical research in Brazil, with 38 professors, about 30 post-doctoral research associates and almost 100 graduate students. With its 50-year long research tradition, the department is involved in most areas of modern astronomy, both from the theoretical and observational points of view - from the stars to the cosmos itself, from galaxies to the intergalactic medium, and from the Solar System to exoplanet research.

About SGI
SGI, a trusted leader in technical computing, is focused on helping customers solve their most demanding business and technology challenges. Visit www.sgi.com for more information.

Contact Information:

Schwartz Communications, Inc.
Gina Titus
415-512-0770
SGIPR@schwartz-pr.com

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