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SGI and EDS PLM Solutions Bring NX Nastran to Acclaimed Altix Family of HPC Linux Systems

Posted on: Tuesday, 4 November 2003, 06:00 CST

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Nov. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SGI and EDS PLM Solutions, a global leader in product data management, collaboration and product design software, today announced a joint effort that will deliver breakthrough price/performance for computer-aided engineering analysis (CAE) customers worldwide. Through a new joint development and marketing relationship, SGI and EDS have optimized NX Nastran, EDS PLM Solutions' new world-class digital simulation and analysis software, for the award-winning SGI(R) Altix(TM) 3000 family of servers and superclusters.

Jointly marketed as a hardware and software promotion and available starting November, 2003, the combined solution delivers dramatically new price/performance advantages for manufacturing organizations seeking to leverage the standards-based, record-shattering system performance of the SGI Altix 3000 family. The fastest system ever to run the Linux(R) operating system, SGI Altix is a true 64-bit high-performance computing (HPC) platform that leverages the advantages of open source computing with up to 64 powerful Intel(R) Itanium(R) 2 processors in a single node -- and up to 512 in a supercluster configuration with global shared memory.

"Manufacturing customers worldwide rely on large model dynamic response simulation to keep their edge in an ever more competitive global marketplace," said Chuck Grindstaff, president of EDS PLM Products, a division of EDS PLM Solutions. "With NX Nastran running on the 64-bit Linux operating environment of the SGI Altix, these customers can now experience performance boosts of more than 40 percent compared to that of other Linux systems. This solution will make genuine HPC-class CAE analysis accessible to a much larger community of users."

"SGI has a long history of working with the world's leading manufacturing software and solutions vendors to optimize the performance of their software on SGI's high performance computing and visualization environments," said Larry McArthur, senior director of strategic business initiatives at SGI. "Working through our joint development program, EDS PLM took maximum advantage of SGI Altix, resulting in record-setting performance for our manufacturing customers. By aggressively pricing the Altix and NX Nastran solution, SGI and EDS are providing unprecedented value and performance, while broadening the market for Altix."

In September, EDS announced the addition of Nastran, the world's most widely used finite-element analysis (FEA) software, to its product lifecycle management (PLM) product suite. NX Nastran targets the growing CAE market, which analyst firm Daratech expects to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 10.3 percent through 2007. The software is widely used to digitally analyze products in industries including aerospace, automotive, electronics, medical and heavy machinery.

The SGI Altix family of servers combines industry-standard 64-bit Linux with the Intel Itanium(R)2 processor family and SGI(R) NUMAflex(TM) architecture to enable global shared memory systems from a few to hundreds of processors with up to 4 terabytes of 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 for production workflows with the most demanding stability. 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. The Altix architecture has proven ideal both for complex shared-memory applications running on a large single system image, and for communication-intensive applications optimized for clustering in throughput workflows.

Availability

Scalable SGI Altix 3000 systems are available today in server configurations of 4 to 64 processors, and supercluster configurations of 4 to 512 processors. For customers demanding even larger Altix superclusters, SGI plans to support configurations 1,024 processors in May 2004 and larger over time. Additional Altix system technical and availability information is posted on http://www.sgi.com/servers/altix.

This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding SGI technologies and third-party technologies that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in such statements. The viewer is cautioned not to rely unduly on these forward-looking statements, which are not a guarantee of future or current performance. Such risks and uncertainties include long-term program commitments, the performance of third parties, the sustained performance of current and future products, financing risks, the impact of competitive markets, the ability to integrate and support a complex technology solution involving multiple providers and users, the acceptance of applicable technologies by markets and customers, and other risks detailed from time to time in the company's most recent SEC reports, including its reports on From 10-K and Form 10-Q.

About EDS

EDS, the premier global outsourcing services company, delivers superior returns to clients through its cost-effective, high-value services model. EDS' core portfolio comprises information-technology and business process outsourcing services, as well as information-technology transformation services. EDS' two complementary, subsidiary businesses are A.T. Kearney, one of the world's leading high-value management consultancies, and PLM Solutions, a leader in product data management, collaboration and product design software. With 2002 revenue of $21.5 billion, EDS is ranked 80th on the Fortune 500. The company's stock is traded on the New York and London stock exchanges.

SGI: The Source of Innovation and Discovery(TM)

SGI, also known as Silicon Graphics, Inc., is the world's leader in high-performance computing, visualization and storage. SGI's vision is to provide technology that enables the most significant scientific and creative breakthroughs of the 21st century. Whether it's sharing images to aid in brain surgery, finding oil more efficiently, studying global climate or enabling the transition from analog to digital broadcasting, SGI is dedicated to addressing the next class of challenges for scientific, engineering and creative users. SGI was named on FORTUNE magazine's 2003 list of "Top 100 Companies to Work For." With offices worldwide, the company is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., and can be found on the Web at http://www.sgi.com/.

NOTE: Silicon Graphics, SGI, the SGI logo and Origin are registered trademarks and Altix, Tezro, NUMAflex and The Source of Innovation and Discovery are trademarks of Silicon Graphics, Inc., in the United States and/or other countries worldwide. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries. Intel and Itanium are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Ginny Babbitt of SGI, +1-650-933-4519, or ginnyb@sgi.com, or SGI PR HOTLINE, +1-650-933-7777, or SGI PR FACSIMILE, +1-650-933-0283.

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