The features of OpenGL Vizserver® deliver benefits that address a number of critical common
needs across multiple industries:
Need: Faster access to large data sets
Unique research and differentiated products drive a need for more detailed models and larger
data sets. Transferring these large models and data sets to desktop systems can significantly
delay individual analysis tasks and collaborative sessions. Users and teams need to eliminate
network bottlenecks and access large data sets as if they were local to their desktop.
Features and Benefits
OpenGL Vizserver allows remote users to work with detailed models and visualize results
without first having to transfer them to their desktop systems. In fact, since the SGI® Onyx®
system that generates the visual results can directly access simulation results generated on
multiple different HPC systems, it becomes the system that provides common visual access to
different systems in a computer room.
Need: More capability to desktop users
Finding novel solutions to today's data-intensive problems increasingly requires access to
high-performance visualization systems that go beyond the compute, memory, storage, and
graphics power of today's typical desktop workstations. The efficiency with which these
resources are delivered to the individuals who need them greatly determines whether a project
team will be the first to succeed or forgotten as an also-ran.
Features and Benefits
Advanced graphics capabilities delivered to commodity desktop workstations and mobile users
offer:
- Greater insight through interaction with higher-resolution models with better results than
possible using existing client devices
- Streamlined workflow and increased personal productivity because of reduced travel and
increased convenience from end-user offices
- Desktop systems that need not be upgraded or replaced in order to provide access to
high-end graphics capabilities
Need: Real-time collaboration with remote users
Project teams are often geographically distributed. However, these teams still need to reach
shared decisions. Having concurrent access to complex data sets, applications, and visual
representation of the data enables a shared context for developing consensus on ideas or
solutions.
Features and Benefits
1. Live, shared-control collaboration between clients at multiple sites:
- Teams can work together without travel.
- Concurrent discussions instead of working in serial yield results more quickly.
- Collaborative functionality can be transparently added to software applications without programming so existing applications can be used.
- Single graphical data set resides on the server so multiple inconsistent copies aren't floating around.
2. Desktop-to-desktop collaboration:
- End users can leverage expert input to shorten design cycles and increase return on investment without having to schedule in advance.
Need: A way to leverage both existing and new technology
Maximizing return on equipment investments requires that the greatest value be extracted from
existing hardware and that minimal change be required to take advantage of new or future
technology.
Features and Benefits
1. Commodity networking equipment is employed:
- By using existing networks and desktop systems, OpenGL Vizserver can deliver immediate benefits.
- Wherever network connectivity is established, your most powerful graphics capability can be delivered, greatly improving your flexibility.
- As standard TCP/IP protocols are used, no new networking software need be applied, reducing management costs.
- OpenGL Vizserver can take advantage of current wireless network technology, releasing your users from their desks.
2. Existing SGI®, Sun
TM, Linux®, Microsoft® Windows NT®, Windows® 2000, and Windows® XP workstations and Windows® XP Tablet PC Edition mobile devices can be used as clients:
- By using known desktop systems, OpenGL Vizserver can begin to deliver immediate benefits; users need not be retrained on a new desktop environment.
- New technologies such as wireless tablet computers can access the advanced visualization, computing, and storage capabilities of SGI® Onyx® family systems without changing existing server infrastructure.
3. Turns new or existing SGI Onyx family systems into visual servers:
- Upgrading or adding new SGI® Onyx® 3000 series and SGI® Onyx® 350 series systems will allow your distributed users to take advantage of the most recent high-performance visualization and computing technology.
- OpenGL Vizserver can be implemented using Silicon Graphics® Onyx2® systems that you already own; this immediately increases your ability to solve and visualize complex problems and increases the return on your existing investments.
4. Turns new or existing Silicon Graphics® Octane2
TM, Silicon Graphics® Octane®, and
Silicon Graphics Fuel® workstations into personal collaboration systems:
- OpenGL Vizserver runs on Octane2, Octane, and Silicon Graphics Fuel workstations, allowing end users to rapidly interact with remote experts to speed development cycles without burdening centralized resources.
5. Allows full access to computational capabilities:
- These solutions give widespread access to computational resources that scale to 16 concurrent graphics users, 512 CPUs, 1TB of memory, gigabytes per second of I/O, and petabytes of data.
Need: Increased capability and greater insight without retraining
Advanced visualization systems provide the capabilities that enable organizations to be the
first to solve the toughest problems. Maximizing results from the use of advanced technology
requires that the technology be easy to install, upgrade, and use; that the technology works
with existing applications; and that it minimizes new demands on programming and
administrative staffs.
Features and Benefits
1. OpenGL® graphics applications work without modification:
- Existing OpenGL applications take immediate advantage of OpenGL Vizserver solutions, delivering dramatic increases in visualization functionality and performance to desktop users.
- Users can take advantage of high-end resources without being retrained on new applications.
- Centralization of applications reduces the effort required to maintain your software and magnifies the impact of upgrades.
2. Several compression schemes are available:
- By selecting an appropriate compression scheme, frame rate and pixel quantity can be manipulated to maximize interactivity and image quality.
- A compression API is also included, enabling users to develop custom compression schemes to fit their needs.
- Interframe compression algorithms are also supported to minimize bandwidth requirements.
3. Remote stereo visualization is available:
- Remote users and distributed teams using SGI® IRIX® OS-based workstations as clients can visualize and collaborate using stereo and multipipe environments to increase their level of immersion and insight.
Need: Increased return on technology investments
Today's industries are challenged by the need to provide advanced visualization solutions to
increasing numbers of users over increasing distances and at reduced costs. Access to advanced
graphics and computational power drives new insight, which then drives an increased demand for
these capabilities. Successful organizations find that demand can outstrip their ability to
dedicate new high-performance systems and applications for every user, especially for those
who may require them for only a limited amount of time each day.
Features and Benefits
1. Network access to SGI Onyx family-class graphics:
- OpenGL Vizserver makes the visualization, computing, and storage capabilities of an SGI Onyx family system available on the desktop as part of the everyday workflow. This availability magnifies the work of talented people by providing instant and easy access to the most powerful graphics and computing solutions available anywhere.
- OpenGL Vizserver takes the visualization to the user instead of the user to the visualization, thus minimizing the time it takes to make new discoveries and maximizing ROI. More people can use advanced visualization technologies more frequently; this maximizes system utilization and increases ROI .
- Ability to drive an SGI® Reality Center® environment: The SGI Onyx systems at the core of OpenGL Vizserver are the same systems that drive 90% of the world's group decision-making environments. Use the same system to drive both environments at different times of the day to maximize ROI.
2. Supercomputer during off-peak periods:
- After hours and on weekends, the large memory, high CPU count, and I/O performance of the SGI Onyx family systems being used to drive OpenGL Vizserver become a supercomputer that can solve complex problems for an entire organization. The dual use of these systems reduces the need for a dedicated supercomputer and increases overall ROI.
3. Multiple visual serving solutions on a network:
- Multiple SGI Onyx family systems running OpenGL Vizserver can be connected via a storage area network to provide continuous access that maximizes resource availability and productivity.
Need: A streamlined IT environment
Traditional approaches to providing visualization capabilities at distributed sites require
duplication of resources, data, and expertise, which in turn lead to ever-increasing amounts
of management overhead. By centralizing resources, system and data management is less complex
and less expensive.
Features and Benefits
1. Hardware centralization:
- OpenGL Vizserver minimizes duplication and management overhead while maximizing the effect of performance enhancements.
- Upgrades need only be performed on centralized systems instead of highly replicated resources distributed throughout an organization; this reduces the cost of upgrades and maximizes their impact across the organization as a whole.
- Many environments where the usage of desktop UNIX® OS workstations is less than two hours per day can eliminate those systems and replace them with more powerful SGI Onyx family systems that provide more capability per user and a 24x7 utilization model. This significantly simplifies system, software, and data management while increasing ROI.
2. Software centralization:
- Applications need only be installed and managed once, while multiple users with multiple floating licenses access the single installation. This reduces the management overhead necessary to make these tools available throughout the organization. As new or upgraded applications are added, they need only be installed centrally, further reducing management effort and increasing application consistency across the user domain. OpenGL Vizserver magnifies the impact of any software upgrade by making it immediately available to every user.
3. Data centralization:
- OpenGL Vizserver provides interactive visual access to large amounts of data without the need to replicate that data. By providing an easy way to deliver distributed visual access to a single copy of data, the effort required to maintain data consistency and integrity is simplified.
4. User decentralization:
- Giving users concurrent access to applications and data wherever they are and whatever platform they are running at their desktops saves time and money when considering the expense of office space and travel, not to mention the faster speed in which decisions can be made or insights found.
