"Working with SGI, we have created a prototype for a network-centric, shared memory, scalable supercomputer based on next-generation Intel processors and the Linux open-source operating system. This prototype will enable researchers to make unprecedented breakthroughs in advanced science more quickly and sustain gigabyte data flows necessary for optimum distributed computing", stated Dr. Hank Dardy, chief scientist for advanced computing at NRL's Center for Computational Science, a distributed centre under the Department of Defense High Performance Computing Modernization Programme.

SGI's single-system image technology uses a single operating system to control all the processors attached to a globally shared memory as well as the input/output system, which is far more efficient than clustering. The Altix family of servers combines industry-standard 64-bit Linux with the Intel Itanium 2 processor family and SGI NUMAflex architecture to enable global shared memory, which is a first for Linux OS-based computing.

Powered by the third-generation NUMAflex supercomputing architecture, even the largest data sets can be handled and analyzed with ease and in record time. Only the SGI Altix 3000 family of servers is designed around this scalable shared-memory architecture that analyzes data sets as whole entities, without breaking them up into smaller segments to be handled by individual processors.

"Distributed computer communications, sensors, and visualization devices require stream rates in excess of 100Gb per stream and will need to soon scale to terabit levels. SGI Altix computing technology will help provide distributed research computational services at NRL to support the Department's computing and communications requirements", Dr. Dardy stated. "By exploiting the continuous advances in computing technology such as the SGI Altix system, the High Performance Computing Modernization Programme assists the Department of Defense to resolve critical scientific and engineering challenges."

The enormous processing power and speed of this SGI Altix supercomputer gives NRL researchers the opportunity to load an entire data set into memory simultaneously. In this single system image architecture, every memory module can be shared among all 128 processors in the configuration, maximizing the efficient use of the supercomputer's available memory, all the time. NRL will use the power of the 128-processor SGI Altix 3000 for some very demanding high-performance computing applications including computational fluid dynamics, ocean and weather modelling, and computational physics.

"We are proud to be partnered with NRL to create the world's most powerful open-source computing environment. NRL needed a supercomputer that could analyze and move terabytes of data faster than ever before, and that offered dramatically improved performance over commodity hardware. They found it in SGI Altix 3000", stated Anthony Robbins, president, SGI Federal. "The built-in Altix interconnects are 200 times faster than existing traditional interconnects, delivering outstanding peak and sustained performance in both bandwidth and latency. In addition, with SGI Altix, problem solving happens faster on a system that is easier to administer and maintain."

SGI conducted the first public demonstration of a 128-processor configuration September 16 during Intel CEO, Paul Otellini's, keynote presentation at the Intel Developer's Forum in San Francisco. August 5 the company announced plans to extend the industry-leading scalability of its SGI Altix 3000 servers to encompass a record 128 processors within a single instance of the Linux operating environment. SGI, which already provides award-winning Linux OS-based Altix 3000 systems that scale to 64 Intel Itanium 2 processors, is site-testing 128-processor systems with organisations around the world.