SGI Secures Top Rankings in New Survey of TOP500 Supercomputer Sites

Company Leads in Performance Efficiency; Number One Among Open Systems HPC
Deployments
FREMONT, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
SGI (NASDAQ:SGI) continues to showcase its leadership among providers of the
world`s most powerful, energy-efficient supercomputers. In the latest
semi-annual ranking of the world's TOP500 Supercomputer Sites, the SGI Altix ICE
cluster at the U.S. Army Research Lab was heralded as the industry`s "greenest"
supercomputer, as measured by performance efficiency. The results were presented
by TOP500 researchers at the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC) on
June 23 in Hamburg, Germany.

Performance efficiency, or "LINPACK efficiency," measures the ratio between
maximum performance (RMax) and peak performance (RPeak). SGI dominated this new
category with 12 of the 20 most performance-efficient supercomputers in the
world.

SGI supercomputers continue to be well represented in the top open systems
deployments, adding three new supercomputers to the prestigious TOP500 list.

Highlights include:

* SGI powers 20 of the world`s most powerful supercomputers, up from 17 on the
November `08 TOP500 list
* SGI`s `Pleiades` Supercomputer at NASA/Ames Research Center/NAS is the number
one open system based on a scale-out x86 architecture and is one of the world`s
top five most powerful supercomputers (listed at No. 4)
* SGI`s Altix ICE 8200 cluster for France`s TOTAL Exploration Production is the
list`s top commercial deployment
* SGI systems represent seven of the 11 systems with a LINPACK efficiency of
greater than 90 percent
* The SGI Altix ICE 8200 cluster architecture at the U.S. Army Research Lab is
the world`s most performance-efficient system, achieving nearly 94 percent
LINPACK efficiency
* Altix ICE clusters represent 12 of the top 20 most performance-efficient
systems

Based on the published TOP500 data, SGI's Altix ICE cluster at the U.S. Army
Research Lab also represents the first time that the performance efficiency of
an x86 scalar-based system outperformed vector-based systems. The latter
traditionally performs better due to its ability to quickly access single pieces
of data; however, SGI Altix ICE's high-speed fabric, coupled with highly-tuned
MPI libraries and Intel's new Nehalem processors, gave it the edge in this
comparison.

"SGI has once again been recognized for continually pushing the boundaries of
supercomputing and developing the most innovative, energy-efficient systems in
the world," said Dr. Eng Lim Goh, SGI`s chief technology officer. "We did not
achieve these levels of performance efficiency by chance. We use the same
hardware components available to competitors but, because of unique
architectures like the Altix ICE, customers are able to obtain additional
performance and energy efficiency from our systems."

SGI`s "traditional" clusters and servers ensure the most demanding applications
make dedicated use of all components: CPU, memory, bandwidth, OS, compilers and
middleware layers, while guaranteeing a flexible and fast evolution path. This
is due to the in-depth understanding of HPC applications and system optimization
needed to exceed the demands of application workflows.

"Platforms based on Intel Xeon 5400 and 5500 series processors have been
game-changing for supercomputing, and we`ve worked closely with SGI to develop
powerful yet energy-efficient systems for the world`s most demanding
environments," said Richard Dracott, general manager of Intel's High Performance
Computing Group.

The TOP 500 Supercomputer Sites is compiled by Hans Meuer of the University of
Mannheim, Germany; Erich Strohmaier and Horst Simon of NERSC/Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory; and Jack Dongarra of the University of Tennessee,
Knoxville.

About SGI

SGI is a global leader in large-scale clustered computing, high-performance
storage, HPC and data center enablement and services. SGI is dedicated to
solving the ITindustry`s most demanding business and technology challenges.
Visit www.sgi.com for more information.

SGI and Altix are registered trademarks of Silicon Graphics International Corp.
or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries worldwide. Intel and
Intel Xeon are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its
subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are
property of their respective holders.

Schwartz Communications, Inc.
Jen Spark, 415-512-0770
SGIPR@schwartz-pr.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009