Danish Center for Biological Sequence Analysis Purchases SGI Solution to Solve Challenges of Massive Data Computation

    MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SGI (NYSE:   SGI)
 today announced that the Center for Biological Sequence Analysis (CBS), a
 division of the Technical University of Denmark, has selected SGI(R) storage
 and supercomputing technologies to solve the massive data computation
 challenges associated with biological modeling. CBS research focuses on the
 creation of proteomic- and genomic-based models of cells for virtual analysis
 of complex biological processes.
     "The Human Genome Project has provided us with much of the data we need in
 order to single out specific genes that might correlate with known health
 problems," said Soren Brunak, founder, director and bioinformatics professor
 at CBS. "We now need to analyze this striking raw data. The power of SGI
 systems is absolutely critical for this type of task, as it requires enormous
 amounts of shared memory."
     SGI builds supercomputing systems with the world's most advanced
 shared-memory architecture, enabling scientists and researchers trying to
 solve complex problems to compute vast amounts of data faster and in a more
 coherent manner than on conventional distributed-memory systems.
     To meet the center's ever-growing computer technology needs, SGI has
 provided a solution that includes an SGI(R) Altix(TM) 3000 supercluster with
 64 Intel(R) Itanium(R) 2 processors and 196GB memory. The system, augmented by
 a 10TB storage system, the SGI(R) TP9400 Fibre Channel RAID array, enables CBS
 researchers to further their basic research in the fields of bioinformatics
 and computational biology. The new system increases the computational power of
 the three 32-processor SGI(R) Origin(R) 300 servers and one 32-processor
 SGI(R) Origin(R) 2000 supercomputer already installed at the center.
     The recently introduced SGI Altix 3000 supercluster already has been
 adopted by more than 25 major research organizations around the world,
 including the University of Tokyo's Earthquake Research Institute, the
 Queensland Parallel Supercomputer Foundation and the University of Cambridge's
 COSMOS project. The Altix system combines three powerful technologies -- the
 most advanced Intel(R) processor, the Linux(R) operating system and the SGI(R)
 NUMAflex(TM) shared-memory supercomputing architecture -- creating a solution
 that enables world-record performance and helps solve the most challenging
 problems of the 21st century.
     Since its launch earlier this year, the family of Intel(R) Itanium(TM) 2
 processor-based SGI Altix 3000 systems has shattered scalability and
 performance records on high-performance computing industry-standard
 benchmarks. Because of its performance profile, the Altix system is especially
 well-matched for genomic research.
     The SGI Altix 3000 system at CBS is being installed with MySQL(R), the
 world's most popular open-source database, recognized for its high performance
 and reliability. "MySQL is optimized for 64-bit Linux on Itanium 2 and can
 handle virtually unlimited amounts of data. We are pleased to be partnered
 with the SGI Altix 3000 family to meet CBS's extraordinary database computing
 needs," explained Bertrand Matthelie, director of alliances at MySQL AB, the
 company that develops, markets and supports the MySQL database. "We look
 forward to working with CBS and SGI in the years to come as this installation
 matures and expands."
     "We are gratified that CBS has joined SGI in the vision of delivering
 powerful supercomputing solutions to scientists, which they have acknowledged
 by adopting our recently launched Altix superclusters," added SGI's Steve
 Coggins, senior vice president and general manager for Europe, Middle East and
 Africa. "Through the years, CBS has taken a leading role in genomics research,
 and it is an exciting challenge for us to provide its esteemed researchers
 with customized computational and data management solutions."
     Intel's Tom Gibbs, director, Worldwide Industry Marketing, said, "Drug
 discovery is constantly at the forefront of technology, pushing the boundaries
 of high-performance computing and demanding higher processing power with
 greater scalability. The Itanium Processor Family delivers new levels of
 performance to support this kind of complex, data-intensive operation in both
 academic and enterprise environments."
     For further information about the SGI Altix 3000 family of servers and
 superclusters, visit www.sgi.com/servers/altix/, and for details about SGI's
 involvement in the life sciences, visit www.sgi.com/go/chembio.
 
     About SGI
     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 www.sgi.com.
 
     About CBS
     The Center for Biological Sequence Analysis at the Technical University of
 Denmark was formed in 1993, and conducts basic research in the fields of
 bioinformatics and systems biology. Bioinformatics is the term used to refer
 to the combination of methods in biology, computation and information
 management, which are necessary to advance research relating to all aspects of
 living systems, from individual molecules, cells and organs to entire
 organisms. Today, research in molecular biology, biotechnology and
 pharmacology depends on information technology all the way from experiment to
 the publication of the results. Comprehensive public databases of DNA and
 protein sequences, macromolecular structure, gene and protein expression
 levels, pathway organization, and cell signaling have been established to
 optimize scientific exploitation of the explosion of data within biology.
 Based on bioinformatics efforts started in the late 1980s, the activity was
 established formally as a center in 1993 by a grant from the Danish National
 Research Foundation.
 
     NOTE:  Silicon Graphics, SGI, and the SGI logo are registered trademarks
 and Altix and NUMAflex are trademarks of Silicon Graphics, Inc., in the United
 States and/or other countries worldwide. Intel and Itanium are registered
 trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and
 other countries. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other
 trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.
 
     Contact: John Watson of SGI, +1-650-933-1652, or Jwatson@sgi.com, or SGI
 PR Hotline, +1-650-933-7777, or SGI PR Fax, +1-650-932-0737.
 
     (Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010510/SFTH025LOGO )
 
 

SOURCE  SGI

RELATED LINKS
http://www.sgi.com