SGI EXTENDS STORAGE WITH PANASAS PARALLEL STORAGE.

Under a new distribution and marketing agreement, SGI (NASDAQ:SGIC) is extending its data management offerings with storage solutions from Panasas, Inc., the leader in parallel clustered storage solutions for the High Performance Computing (HPC) market.

SGI will offer the Panasas ActiveStor Parallel Storage Clusters to customers deploying Linux(R) clusters, including award-winning SGI(R) Altix(R) ICE and Altix XE cluster solutions. Panasas ActiveStor products augment the SGI(R) InfiniteStorage line of storage products and data management solutions for HPC, data-intensive enterprise and media environments.

Combining HPC clusters with Panasas parallel storage solutions offers another option for organizations running applications requiring high- performance parallel I/O. The combined solutions are targeted at customers in the manufacturing, government, academic and energy markets. SGI will also provide technical support and installation services for the Panasas products it sells.

"Because many customers deploying large-scale, multi-node clusters have unique storage and file system needs, SGI teamed with the company that leads the market in providing parallel clustered storage solutions for HPC environments," said Bob Pette, vice president, Global Professional Services, SGI. "By adding Panasas ActiveStor products to our vast selection of scalable storage and data management solutions, SGI is able to provide a complete, highly integrated cluster-based solution that helps customers shorten their time to insight and make the most of their SGI cluster."

Panasas ActiveStor parallel storage includes the PanFS(TM) parallel file system. PanFS uses the patented DirectFLOW(R) protocol to provide a direct access path between cluster nodes and their storage. This eliminates the delays inherent in traditional storage area network (SAN) and traditional NFS-based NAS architectures. This approach improves IT productivity, speeds application performance, shortens time to insight, and further reduces the overall cost of ownership. Panasas ActiveStor is specifically optimized for deployment with Linux clusters with capacity growth requirements.

SGI and Panasas have collaborated on several customer deployments, including an installation at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where NASA engineers worked with SGI to integrate a 74.5TB Panasas ActiveStor parallel storage and PanFS file system within an existing Linux cluster environment. Compared with a traditional storage solution, the new Panasas system enables cluster nodes to access data more efficiently. This has resulted in faster application performance, even as NASA engineers work with increasingly larger numbers of data files.

"After achieving several successful joint customer deployments with SGI, it made strategic sense to formalize our relationship via this distribution and marketing alliance," said Victor Perez, CEO, Panasas. "Users turn to SGI for performance, scalability, reliability and a deep understanding of HPC applications, while Panasas storage excels in all of these areas and will be a perfect complement to SGI Altix servers. Panasas Parallel Storage clusters are currently deployed at a number of key SGI commercial and government customer sites. These deployments have proven to be critical to the success of these customers' engineering and research efforts."

Panasas ActiveStor Parallel Storage Clusters are available immediately from SGI.

About Panasas

Panasas, Inc., the global leader in parallel storage solutions, helps commercial, government and academic organizations accelerate their time to results leading to real world breakthroughs that improve people's lives. Panasas' high-performance storage systems enable customers to maximize the benefits of Linux clusters by eliminating the storage bottleneck created by legacy network storage technologies. The Panasas ActiveStor Parallel Storage Clusters, in conjunction with the ActiveScale(R) Operating Environment and PanFS(TM) parallel file system, offer the most comprehensive portfolio of storage solutions for High Performance Computing (HPC) environments. Panasas is headquartered in Fremont, California.

For more information, visit http://www.panasas.com

SGI (NASDAQ:SGIC) is a leader in high-performance computing. SGI delivers a broad range of high-performance server, storage and visualization 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.

For more information, visit http://www.sgi.com or call 256/773-2371.