SGI Upgrades Naval Warfare Center
By
Nick Wakeman
SGI Inc. is upgrading the high-performance computing center at the Naval Air Warfare Center aircraft division at Patuxent River, Md.
SGI Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., is upgrading the high-performance computing center at the Naval Air Warfare Center aircraft division at Patuxent River, Md.
The company is adding two of its Onyx 3000 visualization systems. The Navy will use the machines to test and evaluate next-generation military aircraft, such as the F-18 E/F Super Hornet, the Joint Strike fighter and V-22 Osprey.
The work at the Navy center is part of the Defense Department's High Performance Computing Modernization Program. The multimillion-dollar upgrade includes two new 28-processor SGI Onyx 3400 machines with seven InfiniteReality3 graphics pipes each, as well as upgrades to existing Silicon Graphics Onyx2 machines, storage area networks and network upgrades.
The upgrade ? the third since 1996 ? increases the capability of the HPC Distributed Center to 150 SGI processors, 23 SGI InfiniteReality graphics pipes, two terabytes of online disk storage and 12 terabytes of offline tape storage.
"This HPC upgrade will provide improved simulation and stimulation capability to support the warfighter," said Amy Markowich, head of the Aircraft Simulation Division of Atlantic Ranges and Facilities at the Naval center. "Direct benefits are improved definition of war-fighting deficiencies, accelerated introduction of new technologies, more realistic requirements analysis and comprehensive risk assessment."