MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (July 14, 2003)—Once again breaking new ground in advanced visualization, SGI (NYSE: SGI) today unveiled Silicon Graphics® Onyx4™ UltimateVision™, the fourth generation of the most successful visualization system in its class, which starts at $45,000—one-fifth the price of previous Onyx® systems. At this level of affordability, the new Onyx4 UltimateVision system brings highly-advanced visual computing within the reach of individuals and small design and engineering teams. Formerly, this level of graphics capability was affordable for only the most elite users.
At eight times the leading performance of previous Onyx systems, Onyx4 out ranks the competitive single-system and cluster offerings of any other company including Sun, HP, IBM and Evans and Sutherland. SGI attributes this accomplishment to its fourth-generation scalable, high-performance architecture and expertise in graphics technology. Onyx4 UltimateVision systems enable users to address bigger problems with up to 40 times the price/performance of its previous Onyx systems.
“What is truly remarkable,” said Jon Peddie, president, Jon Peddie Research, “is that SGI managed to achieve this incredible level of price/performance by integrating standards-based, off-the-shelf graphics processors into its advanced architecture. I expect, in keeping with the industry’s response to over 20 years of SGI introductions, we will soon see new markets as users get access to these new systems
- The Onyx4 UltimateVision system raises the bar in visualization by delivering:
- A system architecture that, in a single system configuration, scales from two to 32 graphics processors, or pipelines—more than twice the scalability over previous Onyx systems and 16 times over the nearest system competitor
- Eight times the system performance of an Onyx® InfiniteReality®
- Up to 80 times the pipe bandwidth over competing cluster solutions
- Price points and configurations tailored to empower individuals, transform team productivity and scale to tackle the most extreme visualization challenges
“We set out on an ambitious quest,” said Paul McNamara, senior vice president and general manager, Visual Systems Group, SGI, “to build a system that delivered break-through performance and capability at dramatically lower entry price points, while, at the same time, protecting customer’s investment in their existing applications. Through the passion and dedication of our graphics team, Onyx 4 UltimateVision presents a new class of visualization system.”
The most pressing problem facing users of advanced visualization systems is managing and manipulating the terabytes of data required to transform datasets into visual representations. Traditional graphics-focused solutions are unable to meet vast data requirements essential for visualization. However, the new Onyx4 system’s innovative scalable system architecture and large shared memory are specifically designed to rapidly digest multiterabyte datasets while focusing dozens of microprocessors and graphics processors effortlessly to tackle problems many times larger than ever before possible. With this new architecture, users will be able to achieve unheard-of levels of detailed imagery in remarkable time. Examples include:
- Models of car interiors viewed at such granularity that materials appear real
- Entire cars visualized in realtime with detail down to the weld
- Oil exploration transformed by the ability to see five times the detail possible today
- Cancers, viruses and other medical data viewed at three times greater granularity
- The millions of cargo containers inspected annually scanned to the centimeter
In addition, the new system supports SGI® Visual Area Network (VAN) technology, giving advanced visualization access to users throughout the organization regardless of location via thin-client access and standard networks. With these collective capabilities, Onyx4 is the first system designed to give a wide-range of users access to the most advanced visualization capabilities in the world.
SGI designs custom solutions, including VAN and immersive visualization such as SGI® Reality Center® environments that combine the strength of the company's technology with a complement of technologies from partnering companies. These solutions optimize the power of Onyx4 UltimateVision by integrating hardware, software, services, and support.
Power of Onyx at an Affordable Price
Onyx4 UltimateVision transforms the price and performance of visualization, enabling companies and research institutes to address problems of a scale previously only affordable by elite labs. Onyx4 systems are available immediately with configurations designed to meet the complex visualization needs of the individual “power” user, of small teams collaborating to improve accuracy and delivery times, and of the most advanced visualization experts. Configurations range from two microprocessors and two pipelines, in a system that fits under a desk, to 64 microprocessors and 32 pipelines. For more extreme visualization needs, custom solutions can be designed.
Onyx4 UltimateVision also comes complete with the power and flexibility necessary to create extremely high-resolution environments. Even the smallest configuration can deliver 20M pixels of highly interactive graphics, enough to power two ultrahigh-resolution 10M pixel LCD displays. At the top end, Onyx4 can render over 100M pixels of display, enough to power the next generation of fully immersive environments.
In a separate release today, SGI announced Silicon Graphics® Tezro™, the company’s next generation visual workstation. The new system, with quad-processor and advanced visualization capabilities, offers a breakthrough entry price point for a system of this caliber. Tezro users will receive greater application performance and a more advanced level of capability on the desktop. For additional information, see “SGI Introduces Superior Desktop Performance and Reliability with New Silicon Graphics Tezro” at www.sgi.com/newsroom.
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 the “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.