AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 17 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Supercomputing 2008,
Booth 1009 (November 17, 2008) -- Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) (Nasdaq: SGIC)
today offered a glimpse of the potential future of dense, power-efficient
computing with the Silicon Graphics(R) Molecule(TM) concept computer.
Like a futuristic concept car points to potential innovations in
transportation, Silicon Graphics Molecule is a concept computer that
illustrates how the latest low-watt, multi-core consumer electronics
technology, such as the Intel(R) Atom(TM) processor, can be combined with
breakthrough Silicon Graphics(R) Kelvin(TM) cooling technology to pack more
than 10,000 cores into a single rack.
Engineers at Silicon Graphics research labs developed the system to show
how consumer electronics technologies and emerging marketplace trends might
someday be applied to overcome the limits of today's high-throughput clusters.
The Silicon Graphics Molecule concept computer balances processor speed,
sustained memory bandwidth, and power consumption. The system has been shown
to deliver sustained results on scientific and business problems from seismic
processing to rendering and distributed searching.
Features of the Silicon Graphics Molecule concept computer include:
-- High concurrency with 20,000 threads of execution -- 40 times more than
a single rack x86 cluster system
-- High throughput with 15TB/sec of memory bandwidth per rack -- over 20
times faster than a single rack x86 cluster system
-- Greater balance with up to three times the memory bandwidth/OPS
compared to current x86 CPUs
-- High performance with approximately 3.5 times the computational
performance per rack
-- Greener with low-watt consumer CPUs and low-power memory that deliver 7
times better memory bandwidth/watt
-- Innovative Silicon Graphics Kelvin cooling technology, which enables
denser packaging by stabilizing thermal operations in densely configured
solutions
-- Operating environment flexibility, capable of running industry-standard
Linux(R) implementations, with Microsoft(R) Windows(R) variants on some
configurations
If someday brought to market, a single-rack system based on the Silicon
Graphics Molecule concept computer would offer the computing power and memory
bandwidth of more than 750 high-end PCs, yet it would consume less than half
the power and less than 1.4 percent of the physical space.
"Analysis of applications and market trends shows that several customer
environments can potentially benefit from the combination of significantly
higher density, memory bandwidth, memory bandwidth per instruction, and
performance per watt," said Shahin Khan, vice president of marketing and
strategy at Silicon Graphics. "The Silicon Graphics Molecule concept computer
shines a light on what is possible in the future. It explores what a solution
to these problems might look like if we utilize an entirely different
technology base, and how such a system would complement our existing Intel
based global shared memory systems and high-performance massively parallel
clusters, which rank among the most powerful systems in the world."
"By combining advances in several distinct areas of components, packaging,
interconnect and cooling, this concept computer illustrates a new balance can
be achieved for high density computing appliances, enabling the deployment of
massive compute power in challenging environmental conditions," said Michael
Woodacre, Chief Engineer at Silicon Graphics research labs.
Silicon Graphics, Inc.
Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) (Nasdaq: SGIC), is a leader in
high-performance computing. SGI delivers a complete range of high-performance
server and storage solutions along with industry-leading professional services
and support that enable its customers to overcome the challenges of complex
data-intensive workflows and accelerate breakthrough discoveries, innovation
and information transformation. SGI solutions help customers solve their
computing challenges whether it's enhancing the quality of life through drug
research, designing and manufacturing safer and more efficient cars and
airplanes, studying global climate, providing technologies for homeland
security and defense, or helping enterprises manage large data. With offices
worldwide, the company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and can be
found on the Web at http://www.sgi.com.
(C) 2008 SGI. All rights reserved. SGI, the SGI cube, and the SGI logo
are registered trademarks, and Molecule and Kelvin are trademarks, of SGI in
the United States and/or other countries worldwide. Linux is a registered
trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries. Intel, Xeon and Atom are
trademarks or 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.
PR Contact: Marla Robinson, 256.773.2371
